


Vlad Plasmius, Teen Ghost Hero

by ankaren



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Age Swap AU, Alternate Timeline, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-23
Updated: 2013-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-19 07:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ankaren/pseuds/ankaren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU.  14 year old Vlad fights the ghosts that attack Madison, WI with his friends Jack and Maddie, but his life changes when he meets a strange and suspicious older half-ghost named Danny Fenton.  Can he stop the ghosts, avoid the government and win Maddie’s heart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vlad and Danny Fenton

**Author's Note:**

> This is a project I’ve been working on for a while now. I’ve seen a few variations of kid-Vlad, adult-Danny, so I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> Age-swapped AU. Mentions Jack/Maddie and Vlad>Maddie. Danny Fenton in this story isn’t related to Vlad’s friends. Since Jack wasn’t involved in the creation of the portal, there’s no ecto-acne. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

* * *

Bored, not to mention annoyed, Vlad leaned against the passenger’s side door and gave dirty looks to the traffic passing by his window.  No matter how far the ride, he always managed a nearly-civil silence with his father for most of the trip.  It didn’t really make him feel much better about being alone with the stern older man.  Having Maddie along would have made the trip so much more bearable.  They could sit in the backseat and talk, and pretend Vlad’s father wasn’t even in the car.  Vlad suspected his father would have preferred being ignored, too.  Even Jack might have perked the whole situation up, by annoying both of the car’s other passengers so much that they would forget to quietly loathe each other.

They turned onto a smaller side road, or an extensive paved driveway, eventually coming to a wide iron gate, abstract metal designs decorating the thick bars.  His father put in a security code beside the gate, and then they kept driving down the huge driveway a few more minutes.  Vlad remembered his father mentioning that his old classmate had struck it rich, but he hadn’t quite imagined _how_ rich.  When the huge stone mansion came into sight around the last turn of the driveway, Vlad was taken aback.  It was almost too much, downright vulgar.  He wondered cynically what kind of insecurities drove a man to hide in so much conspicuous spending, and tried to concentrate on feeling that and not a sense of awe as they stopped at the front steps, and a neatly dressed man immediately took their car to park elsewhere.

Another servant let them in the front door and into a huge entranceway, marble floors leading to a wide staircase.  Overhead, a glass chandelier hung from the ceiling.  Several display cases lined the room, on either side of the staircase. Vlad glanced around at the décor while they waited.  It was… quirky, to say the least.  While he supposed some of the items on display in the glass cases might have been genuinely valuable, others seemed to be worthless things, such as toy models of spacecraft, displayed with the same cheerful ostentation.

“He was always a weird guy,” Vlad’s father muttered.

“Hey!  Pete!”  A voice echoed from the top of the stairs, and a broad-shouldered man came into view.  Daniel Fenton looked taller on TV, Vlad decided.  Still, he was impressive enough in his pressed designer suit, a faint hint of white at his temples adding a little aged dignity to an otherwise rather youthful face.  His expression was bright and open, blue eyes flashing with obvious humor, as he drew closer.  “Looks like you made it.”

“Piotr.”  Vlad’s father managed to keep his voice even for the correction, although from long familiarity Vlad could tell he was annoyed.  “And, thank you.  I see you haven’t changed much.”

“You know me, Pete, I’ll live forever!”  Mr. Fenton laughed and flung an arm around Piotr, ignoring the other man’s wince.  Leaning a little closer, he added in a slightly less friendly tone, “Just pretend you like me for the reunion, and I’ll let you live in the lap of luxury for the next two days! That seems like a pretty good deal to me.”

Vlad’s father recoiled, ducking under the arm and shifting away from the other man, scowling suspiciously now. Mr. Fenton just smiled at him for another moment until shifting his gaze to Vlad.  His expression seemed to soften, hinting at genuine friendliness again, a feeling that left Vlad feeling more awkward than reassured.

“So, what’s your name?  I’m Danny.”  He held his hand out to shake.  Vlad took it reflexively.

“Vlad… Vlad Masters.”  Danny’s grip was firm and warm, and he seemed sincere enough, less as though he were condescending to an old classmate’s child and more as if he were greeting an equal.  He still seemed crazy, but maybe it was a charismatic sort of crazy.

“Nice to meet you.”  Danny turned away again, to help lead them to their rooms.  The mansion didn’t get any less impressive as Vlad saw more of it.  The rest of the place had a slightly gloomier look than the entrance, a lot of imposing long stone halls and actual candelabras in the walls, although the corridors were lit now by electric lights gracefully hidden in the tall ceilings.  Their footsteps echoed, making the halls seem larger than they were.  The predominant colors of the objects on display seemed to be blue and green, sometimes blended gracefully but more often seeming like a mish-mash of whatever item of a vaguely appropriate hue had caught Danny’s eye.  Still, the gaudiness did nothing to cover the immense value of the building itself, or the casual purchasing that seemed typical of their host.

He wondered how much his father was picking up from their brief tour.  While he’d obviously come just for the opportunity to suck up to his old classmate and possibly get something for himself, it sounded from Danny’s blunt attitude as if success wasn’t likely.  In fact, Vlad wondered why Danny had invited his father at all; apparently they didn’t get along. 

The Fenton Ghost Portal was the original, invented when Danny and Vlad’s father were in college.  Over time, it had disappeared from public attention as a hoax, although thanks to his father, Vlad knew better.  In the last few years, the government had finally gotten enough information on the device to create their own.  That had been the project Vlad’s father had been working on when the accident happened.

Naturally, it had all been Jack’s fault.  Maddie had been curious, but not unduly so.  Vlad had been fascinated with the world that had been discovered as a mirror of their own, but he’d never have dared to try to sneak in on his own.  It was Jack’s insane plan which drew Maddie in, which subsequently drew _Vlad_ in, and while they’d wandered around the lab amazed at getting so far, Vlad had managed to turn the fudging thing on.

It had made escape much easier, although he’d used the ghost powers first with a sense of terrified urgency, not innate skill.  Later, deliberately causing full intangibility for himself, much less his friends, took months of practice.  Long, embarrassing months that saw him become the clumsiest kid in school.  Maybe if Jack hadn’t spent those months frequently saving Vlad from discovery or his own powers, Vlad wouldn’t have been able to forgive him for being responsible for his accident.  As things turned out, he had managed to work back to begrudging acceptance of Jack’s right to exist.

 

* * *

 

For the fifth time that evening, Vlad wondered what was happening in Madison.  Maybe some new ghost had come out of the government’s portal and was harassing the town.  Maddie was capable enough with the small hordes of weaponry they’d snuck from under the GiW’s noses, but Jack usually managed to foul things up.  That was the main reason Vlad participated, really—to keep Maddie from suffering for Jack’s weird obsessions.  Never mind that Vlad had the same obsession with ghosts, he wasn’t obsessed with _fighting_ them.  The government opened the portal, the government could handle the ghosts that came through it, Vlad thought.  Maddie had been the one to point out that if the government fought more ghosts, they would become better at fighting ghosts, and if they became better at fighting ghosts, they might wind up fighting half-ghosts too.  And so he and Maddie… and, to some limited degree, Jack… fought the ghosts back themselves.

Watching people twice his age dance wasn’t his idea of a great night.  In fact, ghost fighting would have been an improvement.  Vlad had originally intended to smuggle in a book and read it under the table, but his father had cut that plan short, declaring it “rude.”  So, instead, Vlad was sitting politely and glaring out at the tacky decorated room and the cheerfully inept dancing adults who filled it.  His father had even unwound enough to stand near the mini-bar and carry on conversation with some of his old classmates.  Vlad was so busy sulking that he didn’t even notice he wasn't alone, until he heard Danny’s amused voice.

“You look like you’re having a ball, kid.”

“Sorry, Mr. Fenton.”  Vlad sat up, a little annoyed at being drawn out of his thoughts, but offered a relatively friendly smile anyway.  “I didn’t sleep that well.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”  Danny didn’t look sorry, so much as anxious. Piotr had definitely been right, _weird_ guy.  “Listen, would you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”  If it would get him out of the room, Vlad might consider washing the entire mansion’s toilets.  “What do you need me to do?”

Danny relaxed faintly, making Vlad wonder.  “Great, thanks.  I left some stuff on my desk in the library, some notes for later, but I didn’t want to run off from the party just when it’s getting started.  I can trust you to grab them and come back fast, right?”

Maybe he was worried about some business papers he’d left out.  Vlad’s father would doubtlessly jump at the opportunity to enjoy some low-level corporate espionage, which was more than enough reason to refrain.  “Just tell me where to go, and I’ll bring it right back.”

The library, as it turned out, was nearly directly above the room where the reunion was being held.  In ghost form, a few seconds of floating, but Vlad couldn’t risk one of the guests seeing him.  Going the human way was fast enough, and despite his words, he was in no great hurry to get back to the party.  At least the upstairs halls were quiet; the soundproofing in this place was impressive.

Danny’s library was messy, crowded with more pointless knickknacks held not in glass cases but strewn across table tops and bookshelves. Once Vlad spotted some papers laid out on the heavy-looking cherry desk at the far side of the room, he stepped forward, and didn’t realize he was being watched until he heard the door click shut behind him.

Twisting around, and barely resisting the urge to transform from surprise, Vlad scowled.  Danny was leaning against the door, smirking at and watching him with a deeply unsettling expression of satisfaction.

There were only a few explanations that sprang to mind, none of them good.  The worst possibility was that Danny, somehow, knew.  His first experiment, decades ago, had involved ghosts.  While it had seemed that the rich man had put that aside for more practical inventions, who knew?  Maybe ghost hunting was a private vice.  Or maybe he figured, when a ghost was stupid enough to wander into his house, the ghost was asking for it.

“Did you want something else, Mr. Fenton?”  Vlad managed to sound nearly polite, despite the growing urge to flee.  He had been careless, shouldn’t have assumed that just because the Guys in White couldn’t catch him that nobody could...

“Didn’t mean to scare you.  And sorry for lying, but what I really wanted was to talk to you in private.”  Danny’s smile had calmed a little, as he stepped forward.  Vlad automatically shifted back, until he felt the edge of Danny’s desk against his back.  A few feet away, Danny paused.  “Didn’t I ask you to call me Danny?”

“Let me out.”  Vlad answered in an even, dark voice.  “I don’t want to talk.”

“Huh.  Maybe I’m pushing too fast.”  Danny looked thoughtful as he considered, then discarded, the notion.  “Well, we only have until tomorrow afternoon.  I have an offer for you.”

“What?”  While it wasn’t the whirring sound of some ghost weapon powering up, the mystery behind Danny’s behavior was nearly as unnerving.  Still suspicious, Vlad glared and watched Danny’s hands, just in case he was going for a weapon.  He’d seen what could happen to ghosts who were caught. 

“You’re a little paranoid, aren’t you, kid?”  Danny was obviously amused, which only riled up Vlad’s temper further.  “I guess that’s for the best.  You’re right, y’know.  If they catch you, that’ll be it.  Best keep your eyes open.”

“Who do you think you are?”  Vlad’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his voice edged with anger and confusion.

“I’m the first one.”  Danny raised his hand in a small theatrical gesture, just as two bright rings of light began to spread across his body.

Unlike Vlad’s alternate form, Danny looked much the same.  If it weren’t for the strange intensity of green in his eyes or the glow around his body, Vlad might have taken him for a human.  Vlad’s costume was ostentatious, nicely intimidating though a bit strange, but Danny’s was only a plain jumpsuit in black and white.  His hair had gone white, a match to the color Vlad’s hair had turned in his human form.  The mere idea that someone else might have had an accident to match his own had once seemed ludicrously unlikely.  Still, if anyone _were_ a similar victim, surely it would be someone else who’d been around a ghost portal’s creation…

“What I wanted to offer you is a helping hand, kid.  You’re going to get yourself killed, if you keep at the rate you’re going.”  Danny’s tone was sincere enough, although Vlad kept watching his hands as he gestured.  “I’ve been at this for twenty years.  I understand these powers better than you do.”

Vlad couldn’t help feeling a little fascinated.  After all, he’d never expected to meet anyone else like _him_ , a person straddling the line between life and death.  Twenty years more experience, by someone who was once a pioneer in ghost studies?  There were so many questions he could get answered…

“And why do you want to help me?”  Danny himself had pointed it out—they couldn’t trust anyone.  Maybe not even each other.  Vlad’s mind was starting to race.  If there _was_ more than one half-ghost, what did that make them to each other?  Members of the same species?  A weird sort of family?  Or rivals?

Danny was rich.  Danny was very, _very_ rich.  Danny had managed to keep his most important invention out of government hands for nearly two decades, despite their urgent attempts to claim it.  In the public eye, there was suspicion as for any successful man, but no one had ever been able to find any serious proof of misdeeds beyond the rumors of the ghost portal ‘hoax.’  The few times Vlad’s father had mentioned Danny before the reunion, it had been to curse his insane luck…

“Did you steal all of this?”  Vlad stared around the cluttered room with a different kind of calculation.  “With your powers?”

The older half-ghost’s green eyes widened in surprise, but he answered evenly, “You’re a sharp kid.  No, I didn’t steal _all_ of it.  But it didn’t all come honest, either.  Haven’t you used your powers for anything besides annoying ghosts?”

“I don’t annoy ghosts.”  That sounded a little more defensive than he’d ordinarily like, but Vlad was too alarmed to argue well.  His eyebrows furrowed together.  “Why do you know so much about me?”

“When I heard the Guys in White had finally made a prototype that seemed like it might work, I started keeping an eye on the project.  I guess I couldn’t keep them out of there forever… anyway, I didn’t know about you, at first.”  Danny rubbed a hand through his short white hair.  “I started seeing more reports of ghost sightings around the portal, which I knew would happen… and someone other than the Guys chasing them off.  They’re still confused about you, by the way, but it won’t be long before you become one of their main targets.”

“So, how did you know it was me?  I assume you didn’t invite my father here because you like his company.”  Vlad was certain he still wasn’t getting the whole truth.

“It took some time, but…”  Danny paused, frowning slightly, and crossed his arms.  “You know, if I can find you, so can the government.  Be more careful from now on.”

"I'm always careful," Vlad said, his sharp tone not really covering for his own awareness that Danny had cornered him.  "Why don't they know about you?"

"Because I don't spend every free minute I have flying around having big showy fights with ghosts.  Heck, I make friends with them, if I can."  Danny's expression softened a little, although he still loomed over Vlad.  "We can be friends too.  I'm not out to get you.  Anyway, if I wanted to get rid of you, you’d be dead already."

"What?!"  That had _definitely_ been a threat.  Vlad would know; he made enough of them.  His eyes narrowed, although he still didn't transform.  It seemed too much like inviting a fight.

"I just mean, I'm a lot stronger than you are.  You're still a kid, you're developing.  Maybe you'll be a real bruiser eventually, but you haven't even come _close_ to facing the worst things from the Ghost Zone.  You're playing with stuff you don't really understand yet."  Danny offered one hand, lit only by the faint white glow that covered his body.  "C'mon.  I can help you.  You could quit dropping your pants by accident in front of that girl."

"What—how—" Slack-jawed horror was replaced by bitter rage.  "You've been _following_ me?"

"Nah.  I have other things to do with my time."  Danny's smile went crooked.  "I might've recorded some stuff, though.  Sorry if you're embarrassed.  You keep holding fights right in the middle of town, maybe you should have tried to be less obvious."

"I don't get to decide where ghosts attack!"  It was an obvious truth, but Vlad still felt as if he were admitting to a weakness.  "And I don’t need help!"  Especially from a weird older man who'd apparently been stalking him.

"You can keep telling yourself that, but what're you going to do when you face something too tough for you, much less your little pals?  You're going to get steamrolled someday, and it’s probably going to be sooner rather than later."  Danny lowered his hand, apparently accepting that Vlad wasn't going to take it just yet.  "Besides, I'd think you'd jump at the chance to spend time with somebody other than Pete.  Guy's a dick."

"What?"  Vlad found himself floundering at the sheer gall of the other man.  "It's none of your business even if he is!  He's still my father!"

"All right, sorry."  Danny raised his hands again, this time in an insincere defensive gesture.  "You're right, that's got nothing to do with _us._ "

"What do you mean, us?!  There's no _us_!  There's you, and me, and you cornering me in your library!"  Vlad felt his temper starting to go out of control, but was surprised when Danny backed up a step, eyebrows raised.

"No need to go all glowy-eyed on me."  Danny frowned a little.  "Why're you so high strung?"

"Because you—you—" Vlad wasn't really sure why, once the question was asked.  There was just something _insulting_ about the whole thing, that Danny seemed to expect him to accept his 'help,' no questions asked.  "You lied to me, you secretly recorded me, you held a whole party just to talk to me, and you’re creepy!"

"That's mean, kid."  Danny tilted his head, as if examining Vlad from a different angle.  "You're really that eager to fly alone?"

"I'm not alone!  My friends are all the help I've needed."  Well, Maddie was, anyway.  If it weren't for her, he might consider listening to the other man's warnings if not his offers of help, but Vlad knew that Maddie admired his fight against the ghosts that escaped past the GiW and into the city.  She'd never really seemed to look at him before in the same way, but now it seemed wonderfully plausible that she was starting to feel the same way he felt about her.  Stopping now would ruin that, and it sounded as if Danny wanted him to cut out fighting ghosts altogether.  "Let me out of your library or I'll _fight_ my way out!  I mean it!"

"God, you're as bad as Pete.  It must be a family trait."  Danny turned away, presenting his back as a perfect target.  Vlad wasn't sure why he didn't try one of the ectoplasmic blasts then.  Maybe the older man's threats were getting more to Vlad than he wanted to admit.  "Okay, okay, I'm not kidnapping you.  Kinda mad I went through all this trouble and you won't even hear me out, though."

"You're a crazy person," Vlad muttered angrily.  He didn't quite trust Danny's word, but as he walked past, Danny only watched him and didn't reach out to stop him.  Pausing in the doorway of the library, feeling a strange pang of regret, Vlad glanced back once more.  When he saw Danny smiling at him expectantly, the anger overcame it, and Vlad rushed through the door without bothering to open it.  He didn't need the man's help.  The only person he needed was Maddie.

 


	2. Vlad and Spectra I

Vlad had always privately considered himself a genius.  He’d never taken an IQ test, but didn’t have much faith in them anyway.  No, the proof of his genius was in his ability to recognize the function of the advanced weaponry of the GiW, the ability to create his own tools by repurposing theirs, the mechanical and engineering talent that he’d inherited from his father.  Math classes stood no chance against him, and the science classes still hadn’t caught up to what he’d learned on his own. 

Literature, on the other hand, didn’t require the same type of skills he was used to.  Literature required reading, and study, and didn’t come as naturally as Vlad’s other talents.  So it was no reflection of his own intelligence that his grades in literature had dropped after his accident, he thought, it was just a natural result of having no time to keep up with the class’s reading.  The rest of his classes he could fake, other than gym which he’d actually improved in after he started the ghost fighting.  It was harder to fake knowledge of a book he hadn’t read.

“I know that you’re capable of better than this, Vladdie.”  Mr. Portas had his hands folded on the desk, and he looked quite earnestly concerned, something that made Vlad more irritated than grateful.  “This is the fifth quiz you’ve failed.”

 “My name’s not Vladdie.”  Vlad muttered, and chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment.  “And I’ve had some things going on.  If you’ll just give me extra credit work, I’ll...”

 “I’m sure you can make it up, you’re a very bright young man,” Mr. Portas agreed with a smile.  Vlad agreed with his opinion, but still found himself annoyed by the implied condescension.   “Still, that’s not all I wanted to talk to you about.  I’m worried about you, Vladdie.”

 “My name isn’t Vladdie.”  He couldn’t keep himself from glowering.  “I’m _fine_.  I’ve just been busy.”

 “You’ve been skipping classes and showing up late more and more often.  I heard you fell asleep yesterday in biology.”

 “It was boring.  Can I go?”

 The smile on Mr. Portas’s face was starting to get a bit stiff, but he stood up, shaking his head.  “Actually, I thought it might be a good idea if you talked to...”

 As if on cue, a woman with slicked red hair opened the door and stepped inside, grinning widely at everyone and everything in the room before settling her unnervingly bright gaze on Vlad.  “Sorry I’m late!  I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.  You must be little Vladdie!”

 “I’m not _Vladdie_!”  Temper finally pushed to the breaking point, Vlad stood up too, scowling at the newcomer.  “And I don’t need to talk to anybody!”

 Looking embarrassed, Mr. Portas said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Spectra, lately Vlad here has been a little...”

 “Oh, that’s just _fine_ , don’t worry.”  After her initial look of surprise, she leaned down a bit to put a hand on Vlad’s shoulder, beaming at him still.  “We’ll work this out before you know it!”

 “There’s nothing to work out.”  Something about her touch was offputting beyond the cheer, but Vlad resisted the urge to pull away.  It wouldn’t help his case to keep being surly, no matter how annoyed he was.  “I just need a little time and I’ll be fine.”

 “Just come with me to my office, and we can talk about it, okay?”  Despite it being framed as a question, Vlad was certain it was an order and not a request.  He stood, trying to force his expression to something neutral.  It wasn’t easy.

 The room was oddly dark for an office, although Vlad supposed that was a reflection of his own sour mood.  Settling down behind her desk, Ms. Spectra smiled at him expectantly.  There really was no easy way out of this; he couldn’t possibly tell her what was really going on, but as long as he kept wasting his every free second and a few that weren’t free on ghost hunting, his school performance was bound to get worse, not better.  He had to come up with a lie, a plausible one that wouldn’t invite further ‘help.’  In short, he was doomed.

 “Now, Vlad...”

 At least she had his name right.

 “I know that it’s hard to be a teenager.  So much pressure, you feel like your parents just don’t understand, and your peers...”  She paused, as if something had just struck her attention, then continued with a faintly narrower smile.  “Let’s talk about your peers.”

 He’d rather get hit by a bus.  At least the ghost fighting problems had an upside, a feeling that he was part of something larger than normal people, succeeding in feats no other human could manage.  Barely able to keep the growl out of his voice, he answered, “What about them?”

 “I know you’re not a popular boy, but there’s nothing wrong with that.  They just don’t see the real you.”

 Vlad resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  She had no idea.

 “Sure, you’re small, and a little scrawny, and maybe bleaching your hair didn’t quite go as well as you’d hoped.”  She was still smiling a bit, although fainter, her eyebrows raised.  “But that’s not so bad, is it?”

 He might have answered ‘no’ a minute earlier.  Having someone else point out his flaws in such a syrupy-sympathetic voice just made them seem worse.  He hunched down in the chair, still glaring at her.  “The hair wasn’t really my idea.”

 “Of course not.”  Her smile widened again.  “Peer pressure can make any insecure, vulnerable boy do things he ordinarily wouldn’t.  Especially if there’s a girl involved.”

 She was completely right for the wrong reasons.  Vlad gritted his teeth, feeling a mix of anger and embarrassment rise.  “It wasn’t like that.”

 Ms. Spectra leaned back in her chair, looking unconvinced.  “I can’t help you if you aren’t honest with me, Vlad.  And that means that first, you have to be honest with yourself.  You’re not the first young man that I’ve helped, you know.  Everybody thinks that their problems are unique, that nobody else could possibly understand, that it’s hopeless.  I’m sure that once you tell me what’s going on, you’ll see that it’s the same sort of thing every young man goes through.”

 Anger was starting to burn out, replaced by an uncomfortable sick feeling.  Always knowing the wrong thing to say had to be its own sort of talent.  Maybe, if he really were like other boys, her words would be reassuring.  Instead, they just reminded Vlad of the alienation which hadn’t started with the accident but had gotten worse ever since.

 “Oh, don’t look so sad, Vladdie.”  Her voice was oddly satisfied, practically a purr.  “I’m here for you, and I promise I won’t give up until your worries are all gone.”

 

* * *

 

“Do you want those fries?”

 Vlad silently pushed them over to Jack, who began stuffing them in his mouth at a rate that risked choking.

 “Vlad, are you okay?  You’ve been quiet all afternoon.”  Maddie, sitting beside Jack on the other side of the booth, frowned at him.  “Is something going on?”

 “No!  There’s nothing going on!”  Vlad snapped, instantly regretting it as Maddie’s expression closed into a flat stare.  “Look, I’m sorry.  It’s just that new counselor.”  He ran a hand through his white hair anxiously, bringing to mind Ms. Spectra’s comments on it.  “It’s hard enough coming up with excuses to tell my dad.  Now the teachers think there’s something wrong with me too.”

 “Yeah, but there’s not!” Jack offered cheerfully around a mouthful of fries.  He swallowed, then added, “I mean, who cares what they think?  We know you’re awesome!”

 Maddie gave him a grateful look.  “Right.  Even if they don’t know about it, you’re doing a lot of good for people.  You should be proud of yourself.”

 “If it weren’t for the ghost fighting, I wouldn’t be having these problems,” Vlad answered bitterly.  He found himself slumped forward over the formica table, glaring down at his now-cold cheeseburger.

 “But then ghosts would be flying around trying to kill people and take over their boxes and stuff,” Jack said, having packed in the fries and now eyeing the cheeseburger.  “Think about what a downer that would be!”

 Vlad pushed the burger over without being asked.  “I can’t keep it up forever.  As long as the government’s portal is open, ghosts will keep coming through.”

 “There’s nothing we can do about that.”  Maddie’s voice was firm, although she didn’t speak too loudly in case someone else in the restaurant might overhear.  “Even if we shut it down or damage it ourselves, they’ll just open a new one.  All we can do is fight the ghosts back.”

 “I don’t see why they leave it open like that,” Vlad complained.  “Whatever they’re learning about the Ghost Zone can’t possibly be worth constant ghost invasions.  If they’re supposed to be professional ghost hunters, they should be able to keep ghosts from getting past them.”

 “Maybe they do catch some of them,” Jack suggested brightly.  “Maybe we just meet the real sneaky spooks!”

 “Wonderful, then we get the cream of the crop.”  Vlad decided this would be a good time to moan and bury his head in his arms on the table.  “I can’t even remember the last time I got home at a decent hour.”

 “I can!  Last Tuesday.  There was just that weird ghost worm, remember?”  Jack took an aggressive bite of the cheeseburger, chewed and swallowed.  “Got home in time for dinner.”

 “God forbid you miss a meal,” Vlad grumbled, only to get a scolding look from Maddie.

 “Have you thought about trying Cliff’s Notes to catch up with your English classes?”  Maddie suggested.  “It’d probably be faster than reading whole books, and you would at least be passing again.”

 “Cliff’s Notes are for stupid people.”  The look she gave him wasn’t quite so angry as disappointed.  He could feel himself wilting under it.  “Fine, maybe.  I guess it’s better than failing.”

 She smiled at him again, and he felt a little better about the whole thing.  “Working smarter is better than working harder anyway, right?”

 “Unless you can do both!” Jack put in, although after the looks Vlad and Maddie both gave him, added awkwardly, “Which you can’t right now, but you’d be doing great if you _could_ , right?”

 “Mm-hmm.”  Vlad slid out of the booth.  “I’m going to head home and get started on the _smarter_ working now, I think.”

 “Watch out for ghosts!”  Jack grinned at him.

 

* * *

 

 “What would you like to talk about today, Vlad?”  Ms. Spectra had her fingers folded on her desk and an attentive smile.  “I know, why don’t we talk about your friends?”

 Vlad glowered at her silently, neither agreeing nor arguing.  This was bad enough without encouraging her.

 As the pause went on, she frowned faintly and asked, “You do have _some_ friends, don’t you?”

 “Of course I do!”  Stung by the implication, he forgot his resolution not to talk.

 “Of course you do,” she echoed agreeably, as if she hadn’t implied anything else.  “Even the most alienated young loner has at least one or two friends.”

 He stared at her a moment, not sure if she was being deliberately insulting or not.  Her expression was still warm and reassuring, as if she hadn’t said anything wrong at all.  Maybe he was seeing too much in it; Maddie had accused him before of seeing insults where none were intended.  It didn’t help that Spectra’s suggestion of only two friends was completely on the mark.  “I don’t see why you want to know about them.  They’re in a lot of the same classes I’m in, but they’re doing just fine.  No grade drops or skipped classes.”

 They didn’t skip class as often as Vlad because they couldn’t exactly slip out with the same ease as him, and there was no need for them to come and help with most of the little ghosts anyway.  The stability of their grades despite the loss of most of their after-school study time was a different issue.  Vlad was willing to concede that Maddie was simply smart enough to compensate for less study, but Jack remained a mystery.  Maybe the slight difference between the time Vlad spent fighting alone and fighting with Jack and Maddie was enough to give Jack’s grades an advantage.  Vlad refused to consider the possibility that Jack was just smarter than him.

 “I know they are.  That’s why I’m so concerned about you, Vlad.  I just can’t see why you’ve started failing classes, but they’re still doing well.”  The smile on her face was gentle and concerned.  “Maybe you could ask your friend Jack to tutor you?”

 The suggestion alone was enough to raise his blood pressure.  He had to clench his fists and count to ten in his mind to calm himself down.  If she noticed the change in his mood, she gave no sign of it.  As he started to cool off, he asked in what he hoped was a reasonable tone of voice, “Why did you ask me if I have friends when you already know who they are?”

 She stared at him a moment, as if examining him, before smiling again to answer.  “I wanted you to tell me who you really think your friends are, not who the teachers think they are.  Why don’t you want Jack to help you through this little block?  He seems like a very friendly, helpful young man.  I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t enjoy spending time with him.”  She paused again, a bit dramatically in Vlad’s opinion, before suggesting, “Unless you don’t really think of Jack as your friend.”

 That was ridiculous.  Yes, they’d had a few rough patches after the accident, and maybe Vlad had held a bit of a grudge at first, but that was over.  He and Jack had settled into a somewhat-agreeable dynamic of ghost fighter and sidekick.  Jack could be a little clumsy, and wasn’t as good with the weapons as Maddie, but he seemed to try hard.  Sometimes that could be more irritating than if he hadn’t been putting forth full effort, because Vlad couldn’t entirely blame him for his mistakes.

“You don’t.”  She answered her own question, her tone curious rather than worried.  “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you and your friend?”

 “Nothing’s going on.  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Vlad scowled at her with the most disapproving expression he could manage.  Even if something _were_ going on, he certainly wouldn’t share it with her.

 “I see.  Since you have so few friends, it’s very difficult for you to face the idea that one of them might not really be your friend.  That’s perfectly understandable.”

 “And wrong.  I told you, that’s not what’s going on!”  The stubborn determination of the woman to pursue her own ideas without listening to Vlad was incredibly irritating.  “We get along fine.  Everything’s fine.”

 “But Vlad, it’s obvious that everything isn’t fine, or you wouldn’t be here, would you?”  She pointed it out gently, although the smile on her face was almost predatory.  The contrast unsettled him.  “I think we need to have a long talk about Jack.  Does he encourage you to act out the way you do?”

 “No, and I’m not acting out.  This is ridiculous.  I’ve just been tired lately, that’s all.”  Vlad exhaled through gritted teeth.  “What will it take to prove to you that I’m fine?”

 “You’ll have to be fine first.  I know this is a little scary, but you’ll feel much better once we get to the source of your problems.”  She stood up, walking around the desk to come closer to him.  He resisted the urge to lean away from her.  “Was Jack responsible for your coloring your hair like that?”

 Yes, but not the way she thought.  He kept up his sour expression in the hope that she’d give up.  “No.  I did that.”

 “Were you trying to impress Maddie?” 

 Yet again, it was something _almost_ true.  He’d never have tried to sneak into that lab without Maddie there, and probably would have stayed away from the portal if he hadn’t been trying to show Maddie how clever he was.  It was almost true enough to be suspicious, but there was no way she could know the truth about him.  If she did, she wouldn’t be asking him questions in her office, especially not rude ones.  She’d probably be running.  The mental image was at least a little satisfying, but not enough to bring a smile to his face.

 “No.  My grades haven’t got anything to do with them.”  He tried to sound calm.  Getting angrier would just make her keep prodding him.

 “I understand why you want to believe that.  I really do.”  The sympathy in her voice bothered Vlad more than open contempt.  “You’re lonely, and can’t stand the idea of losing the few friends you have.  Even if they’re bad for you.”

 “They aren’t bad for me!” Vlad had raised his voice again, but was too upset at her suggestion to care.  “If anything, I’m...”

 He shut his mouth too late.  She leaned closer, practically towering over him.  Her voice was soft and smooth as she prompted, “What, Vlad?  If anything, you’re what?”

 “Nothing.”  He pressed his lips together again, wishing he’d kept quiet.  She’d never give up now.

 “I don’t think it’s nothing, Vlad.”  One of her hands was on his shoulder, a pressure that was more intrusive than comforting. “I think we’re very close to the root problem.”

 There was obviously no point in repeating that he had no problem.  He was starting to believe there was one despite himself, and despite knowing that she didn’t really understand what was going on.  The ghost fighting _was_ interfering with his life.  It was disrupting his schoolwork, and it was dangerous besides.  If it weren’t for Maddie and Jack, he would never have begun to fight.  But... on some level he’d started to like it on his own.  He was strong in that form.  He was important.  And even if normal people reacted to him with terror, it was an improvement over his classmates’ mocking. 

 “I’m the one who’s been skipping classes.  They’re a good influence on me.”  Not that he needed their influence to stay in school, but he couldn’t tell her that.

 “That’s not what you were going to say.”  She sounded almost smug now.  Vlad was embarrassed to realize he was starting to cringe away from her touch.  “You were going to say that if anything, you’re bad for _them_ , weren’t you?”

 There was no point in answering, particularly since she was right.

 “Oh, Vladdie.”  Now she had hands on both his shoulders, leaning over him still while he hunched underneath her grip.  “Don’t worry.  I’m sure we’ll get this all sorted out, no matter how hopeless it seems.”

 


	3. Vlad and Spectra II

“How come you haven’t been eating lunch lately?”

 Naturally, Jack first noticed something was wrong from Vlad’s eating patterns.

 “You’re looking a little pale, too.”  Maddie leaned across the lunchroom table as if trying to get a closer look at him.  Vlad couldn’t make himself pleased at her effort.  “And you’ve got bags under your eyes.  We haven’t been up that late the past few nights.  Are you sick?”

 It was possible.  He’d been starting to feel more and more drained, a deep body ache that corresponded with the depression but surely couldn’t be caused by it.  Even his ghost fighting had gotten clumsier.  He’d managed to destroy a convenience store in the process of saving it from some smart-aleck shapeshifting ghost the other day.  No one had gotten hurt, unless he counted himself, but it was increasingly hard to care.

 “I’m fine.”  The concern of his friends just added to the stress of Ms. Spectra’s afterschool interrogations.  Vlad hunched down again and glared at the table, to avoid glaring at Maddie.  “Just tired.”

 “You seem worse than tired.”  Maddie was still looking at him suspiciously.  “Are you sure you’re not sick?”

 “Yes.  No.”  Vlad shifted uncomfortably under her stare.  “That counselor keeps pushing me.  I can’t tell her what’s going on, but she won’t give up.”

 Jack was eating a piece of lettuce stolen from Vlad’s salad, but looked unhappy despite his mouth being full.  Maybe he was disappointed that Vlad’s lunch today was healthy.  “Geez, she should be making you feel better, not worse.  She’s really lousy at her job.”

 Strangely, Vlad had the opposite impression, despite the fact that he only felt more depressed after leaving her office.  She kept coming as close to the truth as possible without knowing his secrets.  He _did_ do stupid things because Maddie and Jack wanted him to.  He _was_ jealous of Jack, something he’d never have admitted even to himself before.  And Jack couldn’t be as stupid as he acted, not with his grades, or his mechanical ability.  She just couldn’t see the whole picture.  Jack certainly hadn’t intended for that accident to happen.  Maddie was kind to everyone, including Jack and Vlad, but the ghost powers and his efforts to protect people were bound to win her over eventually to something past friendship.  The fact that he was risking his life on a regular basis for a girl who’d seemed mostly uncomfortable around him before the accident wasn’t important.  It wasn’t significant.  There was nothing wrong.

 Looking up again, Jack and Maddie were both staring at him with concern.

 “Vlad, this isn’t right.  There’s something really weird about all this.”  Maddie leaned back again, still frowning.  “You’ve been acting strange since that counselor showed up.  Why is she so fixated on you?  You did fine on that last quiz, and there are plenty of students who do worse on a regular basis anyway.  It’s not as if you were setting things on fire or getting into fights.”

 “Everybody who comes back from her acts kind of glum.  Maybe she came here after she got fired from her last school for making everybody depressed.”  Jack poked at a slice of tomato on Vlad’s plate, but didn’t take it.  “You need to eat more, V-man, you look like you’re wilting.”

 “I’m not hungry.”  She’d suggested that Jack intentionally led him into bad things.  That he was sabotaging Vlad on purpose.  But that made no sense, what would Jack gain from that?  Vlad eyed his salad a little more, and felt sick.  “You can have it, if you want.”

 “I wanna see you eat it.”  Jack’s jaw was set firmer than usual, a sure sign that he was about to be obnoxiously stubborn.  “I don’t think you’re eating lately.”

 “I eat at home.”  Well, nibbled at home.  Yesterday he’d forgotten to fix his own dinner.  This morning he’d woken up late and missed breakfast.  But he still wasn’t hungry.

 “Something’s wrong here.”  Maddie stood up.  “I’m going to see her myself.  Try and figure out why she keeps bothering you.”

 “Hey, maybe she’s some kind of secret school counseling supervillain who makes kids depressed as part of her evil plan!”  The sad thing was that Jack seemed completely sincere about the idea.  Vlad stared up at them both from his slumped position.

 “There’s no such thing as supervillains, Jack.  Just ghosts and humans.”  And him, stuck between the two, strong enough to defend humanity from ghosts but too ghostly to receive their thanks in response.  Maybe Mr. Fenton had been right, and he was being stupid to keep fighting.  If he quit now, though, Maddie...

 “I can’t imagine why she’d be trying to hurt you on purpose, but I think she _is_ , and I’m going to see if I can’t make her stop.”  Maddie’s determination was enough to pull Vlad a little out of his sulk, her willingness to defend him a small ray of hope.  “Maybe she faked her credentials, or something.  She’s just suspicious.  I don’t trust her.”

 “What were you thinking?  Sneaking into her office?”  After sneaking into secret government facilities, sneaking into a counselor’s office seemed excessively mundane.  If Maddie got caught, though, there still would be consequences.   Vlad forced himself to sit up a little straighter.  He ought to offer to help her in, to phase her through the walls, but if _he_ were caught sneaking in the whole situation would get worse.  “I doubt she keeps incriminating evidence lying around.  She’s just obnoxious, not sinister.”

 “I don’t know.”  Maddie’s expression had softened to worry again.  “But we can’t let her keep on hounding you like this.  You don’t deserve it.”

 Positive or negative, he never seemed to get what he deserved.  Vlad shook his head and looked down at the salad again, avoiding Maddie’s eyes.  “You’re both seeing too much in this.”

 “Fine.  I’ll get to the bottom of things myself.”  Maddie slid out of the cafeteria bench, and looked to Jack.  “Try and make Vlad eat while I’m gone, Jack?”

 “You got it, babe.”  Jack grinned at her.  Vlad’s shoulders tensed at Jack’s choice of words, but it wasn’t unusual for him to say things like that.  He was just gregarious.  That was all.

 “If I eat this salad, I’m going to throw it up,” Vlad admitted as soon as Maddie was out of hearing, a bit grudgingly.  “So you’re welcome to try and badger me into it, but we’ll both regret it.”

 “You sure?  You _must_ be sick.”  Jack reached over the table to touch Vlad’s forehead, ignoring the glare he got in return.  “It doesn’t feel like you’re fevery.  How about you start with the lettuce?  That should be pretty easy to eat.”

 “I don’t want it.”

 “Aw, c’mon.”  Jack speared a piece of carrot with Vlad’s fork, then held it up near Vlad’s mouth.  “Open up.  You’ll be hungry again once you start eating, I bet.”

 Jack either had no idea what sort of jokes might be inspired by hand-feeding his best friend in the school cafeteria, or he just didn’t care.  Vlad stared at him for a few moments, hoping he’d back down, but Jack didn’t seem to catch the hint.  Finally, Vlad stood, just to get out of the awkward situation.

 “I’m going to the bathroom.  Help yourself to the salad if you want it.”

 “Hey, come back here!”  Jack stood up too, but Vlad already had a head start for the door.

 Of course, he hadn’t needed to go to the bathroom, he’d just needed to get away from Jack.  Walking the halls without a pass was much less hazardous when he could just turn himself invisible and go unnoticed.  Vlad hadn’t _planned_ on going to the counselor’s office, but he wound up headed in that direction anyway.  Maddie could handle herself, he knew, and compared to sneaking past the Guys in White a school counselor wasn’t exactly dangerous.  But maybe he could meet her coming out of the room, and spend a little time with her away from Jack’s company before they both had to return to class.  Vlad very rarely got time alone with Maddie.  Jack was always with them when they fought ghosts, and...

 A cry from down the hallway was cut short, but not before Vlad recognized it as Maddie’s voice.  Vlad’s transformation came in a flash mid-stride as he began rushing towards the counselor’s office.  That wasn’t a sound of surprise at being caught.  It sounded as if she’d been hurt.

 The door was shut, but Vlad rushed through it intangibly, changing to the ghost form with a thought.  On the other side, Ms. Spectra’s office had been horribly transformed by a hellish red glow and the shadows it cast.  Maddie was sprawled on the floor beneath a strange black ghost that flickered at the edges but seemed somehow familiar.  A small blaster on the ground and Maddie’s tight grip of her right wrist hinted at the cause of the cry Vlad had heard.

 The ghost was laughing throatily, her hands reaching out to Maddie.  With a shout that was as much panic as challenge, Vlad dove forward. His ghostly body made a satisfying impact against the dark figure, its force almost dazing him as both hit the back wall of the office. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maddie frantically crawling out of the way, toward her dropped weapon. The ghost underneath him grinned up, a repellant glare of edged white teeth against its shadowy form.  Instead of trying to break free she reached up, grabbing Vlad by the neck.

 “Let go!”  He brought his own hands up, trying to loosen her hold, but his arms felt strangely weak, as if all his strength had been sapped out.

 “Let go?  Oh, Vladdie.”  Suddenly he placed the familiarity of her frame, and a number of things clicked into place.  “I promise I won’t ever let you go, sweetie.”

 “Get away from him!” Maddie’s voice was all business as she aimed the recovered blaster.

 “Oh, dear.” Her voice still tinged with dark amusement, she began to lift up into the air, pulling Vlad up with her as a human (or ghost) shield. “Does that hurt ghosts?  Go ahead and fire, I’m just _dying_ to see what it does to him.”

 Maddie froze for a moment, and Vlad tried to kick back at Spectra’s body, hoping to knock his way free or at least give Maddie a clearer shot. The elusive trailing tail of her body just flickered for a moment at the effort, and she chucked before dragging him up further by the neck despite his struggles, high enough that her mouth was level with his ear. The steady heat from her mouth, not quite like a human’s breath, made him ill.

 “You’re delicious, you know,” she whispered to him. “Your jealousy and insecurity, your paranoia and petty anger, you’re like a buffet! I can’t wait to taste you after you watch me kill your little crush.”

 Vlad tried to jerk free again, but her grip was unnaturally strong and he felt exhausted.  “Maddie, please, just shoot her!”

 The cry seemed to shake Maddie out of her indecision, and her face hardened with determination as she steadied her aim.

 “Oh, going to satisfy your friend’s death wish, see if you can shoot me through him?” She still sounded amused.

 “Go back to hell!” Maddie fired, and Vlad braced himself, but the expected piercing pain didn’t come.  Instead, the shot hit the wall just past Spectra’s head, blasting a hole in it.  Surprised by the wall unexpectedly blown apart beside her, Spectra let out an inarticulate cry and her grip momentarily loosened.  Vlad channeled what was left of his ectoplasmic energy and grabbed at her hands again, hurting just enough that she let go.

 As he collapsed to the ground at Spectra’s feet, Maddie fired again and again at the dark ghost.  The first hit staggered her, but she swirled into the air like smoke away from the second shot. Before Maddie could aim and get off another shot, Spectra dived at her, hands extended like claws.

“No!” Vlad tried to stand, but his legs gave out from under him.

 “Back off, spooky!” Jack seemed to appear from nowhere, firing without Maddie’s cautious aim. She was staggered by the first shot, knocked away from Maddie.  Another hit her still-writhing body, and another, as she howled in frustrated anger. The last shot was both Maddie and Jack firing together, the combination enough to destabilize her form in the human world. She shriveled up like a dried husk, and in the next breath had evaporated into thin air.

 The ghost weapons didn’t necessarily kill ghosts.  They’d figured that out after Skulker first came back to annoy them again.  Instead, they seemed to destabilize them, destroying the body in the human world and forcing whatever remained back into the Ghost Zone.  Spectra had been destabilized, but that didn’t mean she was gone forever.  The thought made Vlad a little sick.

 “Jack!  That was amazing!”  Maddie stood up to rush over to him, giving him a tight hug.  “She didn’t even see it coming!”

 “All in a day’s work for a ghost hunter!”  Jack was grinning widely, still holding the heavy ghost blaster in one hand while his other arm wrapped around Maddie in return.  Vlad wondered how he kept something that size hidden.  “You and Vladdie okay?”

 “Thanks to you.”  She was practically beaming at him.

 He pushed himself up shakily, leaning against the wall.  The sense of weakness from Spectra’s attack still hadn’t passed.  He wanted to yell at them both, tell Maddie that he’d been the first one to try and come to her rescue, that he could have handled it without Jack’s arrival, but he knew it wasn’t true.  “I’m fine.”  He wasn’t sure why he told them.

 “Man, it’s a good thing I decided to come looking for you and Vlad!” Jack was still flushed from his excitement, glancing over at Vlad for a moment before turning his full attention back to Maddie.

 “I almost got her myself, but she saw me before I could get the shot off.”

 Apparently everyone had been ready to deal with Spectra, other than Vlad.  The humiliation of being manipulated and fooled when his friends saw through the problem was almost as bad as the humiliation of being saved by his clumsy friend.  He was the one with powers, and he hadn’t been able to do anything.

 “Vladdie, you feeling any better now that there’s no creepy ghost lady sucking your energy up?”  Jack finally turned more of his attention to Vlad, although his arm was still around Maddie’s shoulders.

 “Yes.  She just surprised me.  That’s all.”  Vlad wondered if Jack realized just what she’d been devouring from him.  Maddie had heard it, surely she knew.  That was humiliating too, all the more so as she acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing.  He didn’t know if it was a twisted mercy to pretend she didn’t know how low that creature had dragged him, or if she genuinely couldn’t bring herself to care after Jack’s dramatic rescue.

 “C’mon, we better put these zappers away before someone sees us with them out.”  Jack let Maddie go at last, to pick her blaster off the floor.  “Class’s gonna start again soon.”

 He didn’t want to go to class.  His energy already seemed to be coming back, but he didn’t feel much better despite that.  Other ghosts had targeted him directly before, of course.  It just had never been so _personal_.

 “You must have been practicing your aim.  A week ago you might have shot Vlad instead!”  Maddie laughed.  Jack laughed too, good-naturedly, and held the door open for Maddie to step out of the room. 

 An awful suspicion started to creep into Vlad’s mind.  The fact that Spectra had been using Vlad’s insecurities for her own purposes didn’t mean she hadn’t been right.  He tried to push the thought away, tell himself that she’d planted those doubts and fears in his mind, but somewhere he knew that she’d only drawn out feelings he’d already had.

 Jack glanced back as Vlad followed them into the hallway, still smiling.  “Good thing we got rid of her, huh?  Bet you’ll feel great tomorrow!”

 Vlad doubted it.

 


	4. Vlad and the Guys in White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of dark stuff in this chapter, but this isn't a darkfic, honest.

He wasn't following her. He told himself that firmly, because he knew following her invisibly would be… inappropriate. He was only making sure she got away safely. After all, he had an advantage she didn't. If she were cornered by one of the government's agents, he'd be able to rescue her. She'd be so glad to see him. Maybe he could even, finally…

She caught up with Jack, to his surprise. Neither of them knew he was floating nearby, still invisible, but he didn't reveal himself yet. He wasn't sure why not. Too hard to explain what he'd been doing?

Jack leaned over and whispered something in Maddie's ear. Her expression lit up and she laughed. They were still oblivious to Vlad's presence. She kissed him, a peck on the cheek followed by a coy, inviting smile.

Reality seemed to pour over him like water, first running cold, then hot. He knew that his eyes were red in this form, but he'd never actually _seen_ the red cloud his vision. Suddenly a number of small hints, vague words and private jokes made terrible sense.

How could she choose Jack? That was the real puzzle. Vlad was smarter than he was, stronger than he was, certainly _thinner_ than he was. In Vlad's presence, though, she was tense, awkward if they were alone together, kind but not quite warm. Jack, on the other hand, treated both of them like his best friends. But Jack was not really his friend. Vlad could see that now, through the dark haze of rage. Jack was his worst enemy. Jack was a liar. Jack was a _thief_.

Did Maddie not realize that this stupid heroic charade, all the risks he took, all the battles he'd fought were for _her_?

The two snuck further down the alley together, hand in hand, secure in their privacy. He didn't bother maintaining the invisibility as they escaped. He could scarcely work back up the energy to keep floating, as his rage started to subside, replaced with something that was uncomfortably near despair. He'd _thought_ he'd felt despair a few times before, dealing with his father, or struggling to learn his new powers. This was real despair, because his motivation for even trying was gone, had walked away as if he didn't exist. Why hadn't she told him?

Because Maddie knew it would destroy him, of course. She was always so considerate. So kind to others. So full of things Vlad realized he lacked. 'Compassionate' was the perfect word for her. He didn't blame her at all, even now. Maybe she _didn't_ realize what she meant to him. Maybe there was still hope.

But not with Jack around. As long as Jack clung to her, she wouldn't turn away from him. The two of them acted like a set, with Vlad the odd piece out. Jack was in the way. He started to drift forward again, peering around the corner out of the alley. They weren't in sight anymore.

When he could get Jack alone, he would… or at least he could… well, he'd certainly do something. Jack thought he'd fooled Vlad, obviously. His idiotic bravado was proof enough, barely hiding the relationship. He even claimed to be Vlad's friend, while laughing behind his back with Maddie. People laughed at Vlad a lot since he'd gotten these powers, at his little accidents, even at his ghost fighting.

Maybe it was some kind of cosmic justice that he was captured then, while picturing the death of his "best friend." Vlad was so caught up in his vengeful imaginings, his turns of melancholy and anger, that he didn't even notice the agent sneaking up or the faint humming sound of his weapon. The beam of light hit him squarely in the back, and he screamed once and jerked before the transformation was triggered and he stumbled down to the earth, human. The agent standing over him was shouting something, but Vlad's ears were ringing and he couldn't make it out. The last thing he saw before blackness overtook him were the boots of other agents walking closer.

* * *

He woke up in a glass cage. Attempts to touch the glass were met with a painful sting, and after a few hesitant tests he concluded that he couldn't just pass through it. He couldn't even see the room he was in, with the only illumination coming from the faintly glowing glass. Shouting and demanding to be let out didn't bring any attention, and Vlad finally quieted down when his throat began to ache.

At least he could transform. Vlad guessed whatever he'd been shot with had been specially designed to drain a ghost's powers. For him, instead of weakening or killing him, it had just made the human form manifest. They'd seen him transform back, that was the really alarming part. They knew who and what he was, now. And, apparently, they'd decided that a half-ghost should still be treated as a ghost.

Fear wasn't a very familiar sensation for him. He wasn't invulnerable, of course, he realized that. And he'd certainly felt some ill-ease when he'd seen other ghosts captured by the government and imprisoned for experimentation, but somewhere he hadn't really believed that might happen to him. Now it felt more as if he'd been in denial about the inevitable. Thanks to Jack and Maddie's desire to fight ghosts, they'd all been tempting fate each time they broke into government facilities for new tools or information.

And now Jack was alone with Maddie, while Vlad was lost to both of them. Even if they'd _wanted_ to save Vlad, and knew what had happened to him, there was certainly no way they could infiltrate the government's facilities this deeply without Vlad's powers to assist. The ghost subjects were kept under the tightest security.

Vlad was alone, in a cage, in god-knows what level of some secret government compound, waiting to be examined just like any other ghost, while his supposed friend had betrayed him. He tried testing the edges of the cage, tried lighting his hand with ectoplasm to force his way out, even tried duplication to see if he could make one of his duplicates appear outside. Nothing would pass through the odd, stinging solid barrier. He was trapped.

Hours passed in lonely darkness and silence. His thoughts ran urgently at first, but as time went by he found himself too tired to continue contemplating either what was going to happen to him or what he'd do to Jack if he were free. A certain apathy began to overtake him. If there was no escape, well, there was no sense in thinking of useless things like revenge. His fate was sealed. Thinking about it wouldn't make it less true.

When someone finally came into the room, a man in a longer white coat that seemed more like a lab coat than the suits the government's agents wore, Vlad didn't bother speaking to him at first. He was thirsty, hungry and tired, but too proud to ask for food and water. Ever since the accident, he had wondered if his ghost form meant he would survive beyond his death. This was the first time he'd sincerely hoped not.

As time dragged on, several scientists had come in and out, talking to each other about various readings that Vlad only partially understood and comparing their numbers and measurements. This was the first step, he knew from past explorations of the government's facilities. The next would be testing under stress, seeing how he endured under different circumstances and what seemed to harm him the most. That stage might be cut mercifully short, or it might last weeks. This would lead to his destruction, as a human or a ghost. It was only a matter of time before they really got started.

Eventually he broke down and spoke to the men outside, to demand _something_ to use as a toilet. That sort of discomfort lacked the dramatic dignity of a hunger strike.

They just ignored him.

* * *

Everything hurt.

He woke up on the floor, and the room had been darkened again. Forcing himself to sit up was harder than he'd expected. He felt dizzy, and nauseous, and faintly disgusted with himself for his own weaknesses. Even though they'd flooded the cage at one point, closer to being run through a washer than given a bath, the tiny containment unit still smelled like old sweat. They hadn't stopped the tests when he'd been forced back to the human form again, deciding to examine the differences between the two. Vlad felt betrayed by his body for being so helpless.

If there had been any hope, it wouldn't have been quite so bad. Instead, he'd lost faith in his friends just before being dropped into his worst nightmares. Surely even Jack hadn't timed that deliberately, how would he know that Vlad had been floating nearby, that Vlad would be so distracted that he'd trip up and be caught at last? Or maybe that had been the plan all along. Maybe Jack had intended to eventually be caught by 'accident,' had been using Maddie to get Vlad out of the way through emotional manipulation…

The theory made no sense when Vlad really thought about it. After all, why would he want Vlad out of the way if he _didn't_ have a genuine interest in Maddie? Different ideas floated up, that Jack was jealous of Vlad's ghost powers, or Jack's sick obsessions meant he believed Vlad _should_ be captured as a ghost, or maybe Jack had some larger scheme that Vlad had never imagined. The problem was that Jack was not exactly a mastermind.

His thoughts slowed down after that, similar to the fugue from the previous night. At least, he assumed it was night. On some level Vlad realized blaming Jack for this situation, with any explanation, was insane. The truly guilty parties were out of reach on the other side of the barrier, ignoring Vlad entirely when he'd tried to speak to them. It was just easier to pretend that all of this had a _reason_ behind it, something beyond cold scientific curiosity. As the lights in the room came on again, he was so caught up in his passionate, comforting thoughts of blame and conspiracy that it took a moment for him to realize the person who'd come into the room wasn't another scientist.

Danny seemed unsurprised to see Vlad in the cage, but Vlad was shocked to see him. The older man was in the ghost form that he'd revealed a month earlier in his massive library, but instead of his weird smile he looked strangely grim. Vlad forced himself to sit up straight, and coughed once to try to clear his throat before speaking.

"What are you doing here?" He really couldn't imagine why _Danny_ would want to come see him now, much less risk his own capture in the process. Danny didn't answer at first, looking over the machinery before turning his face to Vlad and, to Vlad's unexpected relief, answering.

"Saving your stupid rear."


	5. Vlad and Danny Phantom

"I told you that you were gonna get caught sometime." Danny's hands started to glow green, an intense color that was reflected by his bright, illuminated green eyes. "You okay?"

Not really, Vlad thought, but he said, "Yes." After what he'd been through, the thought of admitting any more weakness, especially in front of Daniel Fenton, was unbearable.

"Good kid." Danny seemed to approve, which riled Vlad's temper again. Who did he think he _was_? "Cover your face."

The warning only came a few seconds before Danny's fist smashed through the sparking barrier. The sound of glass shattering and the feel of a few pieces hitting him made Vlad relieved he'd brought his arms up in time. Before he could uncover his face, Danny grabbed one of his wrists, pulling him up and out of the now-ruined prison with inhuman strength.

"C'mon, we gotta move fast now. They'll be on their way." Danny's grip was firm, almost reassuring. Vlad forced himself to stand outside of the cage, but found himself swaying on his feet, getting a concerned look from Danny, who put an arm around his shoulders to steady him. "Oh, crap… okay, fine. I'll carry you."

"What?! No!" Vlad yelped, moments before being slung over one of Danny's shoulders.

"Now shut up, I'm concentrating." Danny lifted his feet off the ground, and Vlad felt the familiar faint tingle of invisibility passing over him from Danny's powers rather than his own. They started to fly out quickly, racing down corridors faster than any human could walk, fast enough that Vlad started to feel nauseated.

A handful of guards were waiting at one door, and Danny paused in his flight. Vlad swallowed hard, trying not to get sick from his disorientation. One of the white-clad guards seemed to somehow detect them, and just as the guards drew their weapons Danny fired.

He was still invisible, but the green energy appeared as soon as it left his hand, encasing one of the guards and shooting the weapons out of the hands of three others. There was one left, but in the momentary confusion after the attack Danny passed directly through him and the door, heading up an empty elevator shaft behind it.

Vlad had never thrown up while invisible. Something about the yellowish bile that suddenly appeared mid-air was funny, and he realized he was starting to feel edges of nervous hysteria.

"Kiddo, you better be glad you missed me," Danny muttered to him without stopping, zooming up out of the elevator and upside down for a few moments down the next hall before bothering to turn over again. They encountered a few more guards, but Danny seemed to be almost immeasurably stronger than Vlad as he took them out without any warning or pause, and Vlad realized with shock that Danny had somehow managed to duplicate himself invisibly when the green blasts started appearing from different angles. Really, the Guys in White had stood no chance.

Or maybe they'd just been trying to slow Danny down while the main force braced themselves at the final exit. The doors to the outside seemed to be glass, but Vlad realized they were glowing just as his cage had glowed, and between them and the exit were dozens of heavily armed men, clearly waiting for their arrival. One man pointed and shouted, apparently equipped to detect invisible ghosts, and the rest started to open fire. Danny put up a heavy green shield that held the energy shots at bay, and growled faintly.

"Cover your ears, close your eyes, keep your head down. Right _now_!"

His voice wavered at the end of the orders, a sound that grew stronger until it had a painfully sharp edge that started to inspire an agonizing headache. Vlad desperately covered his ears and found himself blindly burying his face against the older man's invisible back for protection, as the sound grew louder. He was so deafened by it that he didn't hear the men screaming, or the glass shattering behind them. Until they started to fly forward again, Vlad didn't even dare to try to look.

When he did, they were zooming over the bodies of their attackers. All of them were limp on the floor, a veritable army crushed by one man. With shock, Vlad realized they were not only unconscious, but many were now bleeding from their ears, nose or mouth. Deafened, maybe dead. He'd thought that he was used to fighting thanks to the ghosts, but he'd never actually _seen_ a dead body before. Animated corpse-like ghosts weren't quite the same thing. As they slipped out the door and rose up into the sky, still at a break-neck speed, Vlad threw up again.

"Aw, kid!" Danny finally paused as they passed the clouds, turning them both visible. He glanced down at his legs, where a few streaks of green-yellow on the white boots showed that Vlad hadn't missed this time. "You better help wash those."

"Stop calling me kid!" Terrified, outraged and bewildered, Vlad tried to free himself of the embarrassing grip Danny had on him, and to his surprise Danny let him shift his weight until he was closer to sitting up in Danny's arms than held over his back. Vlad glared up at him, and tried to force a transformation, but found himself too weak as black rings sparked out around his waist before spreading. "That's not my name!"

"Yeah, well, Vlad's a weird name." Danny gave him a faintly sour look, but added, "Don't try and change yet. They feed or water you any?"

"I'm not a dog." Vlad looked away, finding his view of the ground blocked by the lower levels of cloud-cover. "Did you _kill_ all those people?"

"Ghosts who come into the human world and humans who go into the Ghost Zone're all the same. They know the risks of what they're messing with. Eventually they'll have to pay for the stuff they do." Danny's voice was surprisingly hard, almost bitter, and when Vlad looked back to him, he saw a strange edge of anger on Danny's face that he'd never seen there before.

"Did they ever catch you?" Vlad guessed. It would explain his lack of regret at hurting or even killing them… his wish to help someone else in the same position…

"No." Danny's jaw seemed to tighten, as if he were gritting his teeth, and it was another moment before he exhaled and seemed to calm down, looking Vlad in the face again. "They didn't catch _me_."

Vlad didn't know what to say to that.

Danny flew faster than Vlad had ever managed, although he returned to invisibility when the cloud cover started to thin out beneath them. Vlad didn't bother trying to speak as they flew, just holding on tight out of the fear of being dropped while he couldn't fly on his own. The large half-moon was starting to sink below the horizon, and the first edges of dawn gave Vlad at least enough orientation to know they were headed south. Finally, Danny paused, looking down at a small wood cabin on the ground, surrounded by trees.

"Kid… _Vlad_ , sorry… we're going down." That was all the warning Vlad got before his stomach jumped up into his throat again, as they dropped to the ground.

"Fudge, slow _down_!" Vlad yelled over the rushing air.

Danny didn't answer until he came to an abrupt stop a few feet above the ground, just outside the heavy-looking wooden door. The amused half-grin he gave his passenger was infuriating. "What'd you just say?"

"Nothing." Vlad looked away to stare at the door, feeling his cheeks go red. "Where are we?"

"Little hide-out of mine. Thought you'd like somewhere to catch your breath a bit." Danny at least accepted the change in subject, setting his feet down on the porch and helping Vlad stand upright despite his exhaustion. "You like it?"

Vlad kept his gaze locked away from Danny, scowling a little.

"You are seriously the most sullen kid I've ever met," Danny announced, not without a bit of amusement still in his voice, as he reached through the door to start undoing locks. After a few moments, Vlad heard a strange loud click, and Danny pushed the door open.

Inside was surprisingly simple and homey, nothing like the audacious castle Danny occupied most of the time. The wooden walls and small fireplace looked rustic, and aside from two rather plush-looking couches and a small coffee table there was no sign of décor.

"What do you use this place for?" Vlad stepped in on his own, but found himself leaning against the wall instead of trying to support all his own weight yet.

"Experiments, mostly. Got a lab tucked away downstairs. The government's always trying to get in my big house, figured someplace small and unassuming was just what I needed." Danny closed the door behind himself, and Vlad watched with restrained fascination as he reached into the door again, evidently setting some locking system embedded in the door itself. Something that could only be locked and unlocked by someone who could reach through it… "You okay to get to a couch yourself? I'll get you something to drink."

Vlad was suddenly painfully aware of the burning feeling in his mouth and throat from throwing up before without anything to drink and clear the acid away. He stumbled forward to the couch, and almost managed to drop himself onto it casually. "What about your boots?"

"Huh? Oh." Danny looked down at them, and sighed. "Well, it's not like you did it on purpose. It'll probably clear up when I change." The white rings around his body left the human Daniel standing there, shoes and suit still impeccably clean. "I'll be right back, don't wander off."

The idea that he could wander anywhere in his state was somehow funny, but Vlad was too exhausted to laugh. Instead he stared up at the ceiling, supported by heavy wooden planks. Danny walked through a simple open doorway into what Vlad guessed was the kitchen, and came back in a few minutes with two glasses and a pitcher of water.

"I haven't got a whole lot here to choose from, so you'll have to make do for now. I don't really keep the place fully stocked all the time, just some basics." Danny seemed to be apologizing, although Vlad wasn't sure why. Maybe with his riches he was embarrassed at admitting to any kind of lack.

"Just give me the water," Vlad answered slowly, forcing himself to sit up straight again. "I still feel sick."

"You need something to throw up in?" Danny looked concerned, but poured water into both glasses before handing Vlad one.

His hands were shaky, but the water was easily the best thing he'd ever had. He'd almost forgotten the painful thirst that had started part-way through the previous day… had it only been one day? Their flooding the chamber helped a bit, but he'd hesitated for a moment to try and drink the same water he was washing in, a somewhat finicky decision he'd deeply regretted later, when his thirst had come back stronger than before. Best of all, as he drank he could feel the nausea starting to subside a bit, and he gave Danny an intensely grateful look before he realized what he was doing, and looked away. Danny's smile at least had lost that cocky, almost mocking edge.

"You look a little better already." Danny sat down beside Vlad, sipping at his own glass of water with less urgency than Vlad's first desperate gulps. "Listen… I'm sorry it took me so long. I didn't know you were gone at first, and then I had to figure out where they were keeping you…"

This apology was absolutely mystifying. Vlad drank a little more water before resting, afraid he'd make himself throw up again by taking too much in at once. He didn't quite look at Danny as he admitted, "I still don't know why you rescued me in the first place."

When he glanced for a moment at Danny's face, the look on it was almost sad. "Yeah, well, maybe you'll figure it out eventually."

"Why are you so fixated on me?" Vlad leaned forward a bit. "It's obvious you don't need _my_ help with anything."

"Sure, I do." Danny shifted his weight a little, leaning back into the couch. "Just not the ghost powers stuff. That's what you need _me_ for."

"I…" He couldn't say he didn't need Danny's help now. "I don't understand you at all."

"That's fine. You don't have to." Danny looked him up and down, and returned to the half-grin. "I don't really get you either, to be honest. Maybe we can get to know each other better, now that you're my guest."

"I can't stay here long." Vlad took another long sip of water before adding, "I need to tell Maddie what happened. My dad's going to be pretty angry with me for disappearing too…"

A pained look crossed Danny's face for a moment, and he seemed to be picking his words carefully before he spoke. "Look, I understand you want to go back to your old life. But they know who you are now. You're going to have to hide out. At least until I can figure out some way to make sure they don't pick you up as soon as you show up on your dad's doorstep."

Vlad realized he hadn't thought about that, but it seemed painfully obvious now that it was pointed out. When he'd given up hope of escape, he had stopped thinking about the consequences of his secret being revealed. Now he realized that his life was ruined even though he'd survived. Abruptly bitter at the thought of never seeing Maddie again, even of losing all contact with his father, Vlad asked coldly, "Why don't you just kill _all_ the Guys in White? You seemed to think that worked pretty well so…"

His sentence cut off mid-word as Danny suddenly grabbed him by the shirt collar, yanking him closer. Fear, now more familiar to Vlad, came back as he realized Danny's eyes were glowing green again, and he looked nearly as angry as when they'd first escaped. The older man swallowed hard, several times, and Vlad realized with an agonizing burst of cowardice that he was trying to swallow back rage.

"Kid. You never say that to me. You never say that to me again, you hear?" Danny held him still, staring into Vlad's eyes with bright green intensity, until Vlad nodded once, his own eyes wide. "I do not like to do that. If you'd listened to me in the first place, I never would've _had_ to. You understand?"

"Yes." Vlad realized his voice was higher than usual, but he was too afraid to care. "Yes! I understand!"

"Great." Danny let him go, and seemed to shrink in on himself suddenly, his expression nearly as tired as Vlad felt. "You need to remember it."

Vlad stared at him for another terrified moment, but Danny's anger seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had risen. He had never gotten along well with his father, but Piotr had never really _manhandled_ him, either. Finally, to stop himself from gawking, he started to sip the water again silently.

As he finished the glass, Danny groaned and massaged his forehead with one hand before looking over at Vlad once more. "Listen… Vlad. I'm not going to hurt you."

Arguing that he already had, by jerking him up like that and flying him around upside down, seemed excessively foolhardy. Vlad just held his empty glass and stared back at Danny in silence.

"I mean it." Danny seemed oddly emphatic. "You piss me right off sometimes, but I'm not going to smack you around over it."

"Fine." Vlad answered warily, wondering if it was safe yet to ask for more water. "I believe you."

"No, you don't." Danny frowned, but he stood and refilled Vlad's glass without being asked. "And you don't get why I saved you, and you're too stubborn to admit you need help, and you talk about me killing people like it's a _joke_."

It wasn't meant a joke so much as an insult, one that had hit harder than Vlad expected. He went back to sipping the water and watching Danny warily. After a few more moments, Danny seemed to give up on something, shaking his head.

"Okay, okay. I guess it doesn't really matter. Do you think you could keep something solid down?"

Vlad shrugged silently.

"You could at least say, thanks for risking your neck to save mine, you're not such a bad guy." Danny walked back to the kitchen, and added over his shoulder, "You don't have any allergies, right?"

"No." Vlad closed his eyes to try and rest while Danny was gone. He still felt a little sick, and Danny's show of temper was far more frightening after seeing what Danny could _do_ to someone if he got angry enough. Some of the powers he'd used were entirely new to Vlad, especially the weird attack with his voice. Anyone who could do that much damage just by yelling was someone to be afraid of. For whatever reason, he seemed to want Vlad to see him as harmless, trustworthy. Maybe because he was so obviously neither.


	6. Vlad and Boredom

Danny had left the next morning, after making sure Vlad knew where everything he needed upstairs was. After a little food and plenty of water, a change of clothes and perhaps most importantly, an actual hot bath, Vlad felt very nearly human again. He'd gone back into the modest kitchen to try making an omelet. It came out slightly more as scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon, but that was good enough. He'd started to practice cooking for himself more often since Maddie had mentioned that she liked a man who understood food…

… Something that suddenly made much more sense, and Vlad felt remarkably stupid for a moment. Still, at least he wouldn't starve. After finding a plate to drop his eggs into, he headed back to the living room.

As it turned out, a house with almost no decorations was not so much 'small and unassuming' as it was really _boring_. There was no way Danny spent most of his time here upstairs; he'd probably go crazy from staring at the blank walls.

The cheese-bacon-egg creation was good, although the fact that he was so hungry couldn't have hurt. The previous night, Danny had avoided feeding him anything too heavy, which might have been a good idea to prevent more sickness but wasn't very satisfying. When he was done, he put the dish and fork in the small sink along with the frying pan he'd used, and left them for Danny to wash when he got home.

Walking back into the living room, Vlad really did try to distract himself from snooping. Even if the other man seemed faintly unhinged at times, he _had_ saved him. Until Vlad knew why, there was no reason to rile up his temper again. After an hour, he'd gotten bored enough to go back into the kitchen and actually clean his dish. After two hours, he started tossing a small ball of energy back and forth between his hands, telling himself that it was practice and not complete boredom. After four hours, and a brief nap, he was starting to wonder if he'd lost all track of time, or if Danny was _ever_ coming back.

If he didn't want people snooping through his things, he really shouldn't lock people in his house, Vlad reasoned. There were no obvious indications of a basement staircase, but that was no surprise, especially after seeing the lock on the front door. It was another entrance only meant for those with ghost powers. Vlad managed to transform for the first time since escaping with Danny, and sank down intangibly through the floor.

He'd started to wonder if Danny hadn't been lying when he finally broke through the foundations, earth and then rock underneath to a laboratory that even made the GiW look like a modest home project. It was amazing what a person with power and money could accomplish, even a crazy person. Vlad found himself looking at dozens of inventions laid out haphazardly across various steel surfaces, lit by fluorescent bulbs embedded in the ceiling overhead. Despite the white light and silver reflections, the whole room had a strange green tint that Vlad couldn't quite explain, but assumed was related to ectoplasm. At the end of the room was a closed and locked ghost portal.

Vlad guessed most of the inventions were weapons, based on their shapes. Various guns, along with other more unlikely weaponry such as swords and gauntlets, even a whole suit of armor comprised the vast majority. After looking those over, the other things seemed all the more mysterious for their lack of obvious purpose. A metal cylinder. A glowing book. A few items behind glowing glass, such as a ring with a stylized skull on the front and what looked for all the world like a golden arm. After being trapped behind glowing glass himself, Vlad managed to resist the urge to try breaking in, and made his way toward the back of the lab, where various engineering tools and a handful of books were strewn across a table that stretched vertically across the room.

He'd always been handy with electronics, although somehow he seemed to wind up spending more time fixing Jack's errors than working on his own projects. The small cache of weapons and tools they'd built up seemed remarkably outclassed when compared to Danny's arsenal. It looked as if he were ready to take on a small army of ghosts.

That suddenly seemed uncomfortably plausible, and Vlad was starting to wonder what exactly Danny did _other_ than lining his own pockets, or why he'd told Vlad to stop ghost hunting when it looked like he was doing the same thing, just in secret. For all his protestations of making friends with ghosts, it looked like he was carrying a pretty heavy stick to back up his 'peaceful' overtures.

His sneaking up on Vlad in his library also took on new context. If he'd really wanted to hurt Vlad, he could do worse than just grabbing him. Instead, he'd shown up without any weapons obvious. Or maybe he thought his powers were so strong compared to Vlad's that he didn't need to bother with any extra help… he hadn't even used weapons when he invaded the GiW base Vlad was trapped in. Vlad hadn't been able to break through that barrier with any power, and Danny did it with one fist. Maybe he really hadn't meant to hurt Vlad before. Maybe he just wasn't good at controlling his own strength.

Or temper. _That_ was still alarming. Snooping through his things probably wasn't the best way to stay on his good side, either. Vlad decided that at least boredom wasn't likely to kill him, and headed upstairs again quickly. He'd seen all he needed to see, and he couldn't really touch anything without risking Danny noticing.

Once he was back upstairs, Vlad started to wander through the parts of the house he hadn't seen yet. There wasn't much there. The house itself was much smaller than the laboratory hidden underneath, and only two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a den didn't offer much to explore. There was a washer and dryer near the bathroom, which made Vlad wonder for the first time where the water and power for this place came from. It didn't seem to be connected to any outside source.

Following wires through the walls didn't sound as interesting as sifting through Danny's bedroom, anyway. It wasn't his 'main' house, so Vlad didn't expect to find anything too shocking. His closet had a lot of casual clothes and a couple of suits obviously intended to fit the man, but no skeletons either literal or figurative. He was hesitant to actually touch anything, but did try opening the drawers of the heavy oak dresser, finding mostly clothes again, this time shorts, jeans, underwear and socks. He'd given up on finding anything half as interesting as the lab below when he opened the bottom drawer. Inside was a framed photograph, with Danny standing between a dark haired, ponytailed woman and a black man in a red beret. He was obviously much younger in the photograph, closer to Vlad's age now than Danny's current age, maybe in his late teens or early twenties. Danny had an arm slung around each of them, and they were all smiling, although the look on the woman's face might be called a smirk instead.

There was nothing else in the drawer. After closing it carefully to avoid any signs of jostling the picture around, he went back to the living room and stretched out on the couch.

* * *

By the time Danny came home, Vlad had fallen asleep again.

"Kid, get up. Dinner. C'mon, up and at 'em."

It took a few moments before Vlad registered that someone was waking him up. The first impulse he had was to complain that he could sleep in five more minutes and still make it to school on time, when the memory of the last few days rushed back and he sat up quickly, rubbing his face.

Danny was leaning over him, smiling. The smell of something meaty cooking was enough to make Vlad's stomach growl, and he realized he hadn't bothered eating lunch.

"Hope you like hamburger helper, 'cause that's what we're having," Danny announced cheerfully, earning a groan from Vlad.

"Are you serious? You could buy any food you want, or hire a whole army of private chefs, and you buy _hamburger helper_?" Vlad shook his head, still trying to finish waking up.

"It's not like my tastes changed when I got rich, you know." Danny offered a hand, but Vlad pulled himself up without reaching for it, and Danny somehow managed to tuck his hand into his pocket casually as if he'd intended to do that in the first place. "Besides, I'm not bringing any chefs out _here_ , and I'm not the world's best cook."

"Even I can make things other than hamburger helper." Vlad stretched, to finish shaking off his drowsiness. "Where'd you go all day?"

"Just work, checking on some business of mine. By the way, your dad's kinda freaking out." Danny's expression dropped a bit of its enthusiasm. "We're probably going to need to find some way to let him know you're not dead in an alley somewhere."

"He probably just thinks I ran off." Vlad frowned, and started to walk to the kitchen, Danny following him. "Ever since my hair went white, he's been convinced I'm on the road to juvenile delinquency. It's not as if I can tell him I didn't do it on purpose."

"Hey, he's right, when you think about it!" Danny reached out and mussed the top of Vlad's hair, although he pulled his hand back again when Vlad ducked his head and turned to glare. "I mean, you're wandering around all hours, stealing stuff, beating other guys up… You're a pregnant girl and a drug addiction away from a parent's worst nightmare."

"Thank you so very much." Vlad turned away, tightening his hands into fists to try and work his annoyance out through them. "So what are you suggesting? I send him a note?"

"I don't know. Do you think he'd recognize your handwriting?" Danny walked over to the stove, and started stirring the pot still on it. "Maybe we could send a recording."

"That's the way kidnappers have their victims send messages," Vlad said irritably, and sat at the table. "Why don't you just cut off one of my fingers and send _that_ to him?"

"Why, you have a finger you're trying to get rid of?" At least Danny didn't get angry at that jibe, which Vlad had regretted as soon as it passed his lips. "I guess I did wind up kidnapping you a little after all. Sorry about that, but I hope I'm at least a better warden than _those_ guys."

"I suppose terrible food _will_ kill me more slowly."

"See? Things are getting better for you all the time." Danny spooned the pot's contents into two bowls, and brought them to the table with two forks and napkins. "What do you want to drink? We've got lemonade now."

Was that what he thought teenagers drank? Vlad stared at him before answering, "Water's fine."

The food wasn't really that bad, especially in comparison to starving, or spending a night with the sour aftertaste of being sick in his mouth with nothing to wash it out. He tried to ignore Danny over the meal, and for whatever reason the man seemed to accept it, eating silently himself until he asked if Vlad wanted a second dish. He'd have enough carbohydrates and sodium for a week, if nothing else.

"Did you have any requests? Cereal, or a soda you like?" Danny had already started his own second bowl, but at least he swallowed what he was chewing instead of talking with his mouth full. "I wasn't sure what a kid your age would eat."

"If you really want to buy cereal, I like shredded wheat."

Danny snorted. "Really? You're fourteen, right? You need extra fiber already?"

"I just don't like overly sweet cereals." Vlad pushed his empty bowl away. "I'm full now. Do you ever plan on buying any fruit or vegetables?"

"Sure, they just don't keep that well, so I don't keep them around here. I'll make sure you don't die of scurvy on me, promise." Standing up, Danny took Vlad's bowl to the sink before coming back to finish his own. "You know, I'm sort of surprised you still aren't trying to take advantage of me. I mean, here's this crazy old guy, full of more money than he knows what to do with, and you don't like me but you know I want to get along. I'd expect you to be asking for a swimming pool of champagne by now."

"I'd drown. And I'm too young to drink." Vlad felt a little unnerved at Danny's comments. The idea had certainly crossed his mind, of course, he was a very pragmatic young man. But he still wasn't convinced Danny didn't have some ulterior motive, and starting to ask for expensive gifts would only make his debt to the older man grow. He was already in an awkward position, after Danny saved him and took him in. "When can I go home?"

Danny hesitated, his fork partway to his mouth, before putting it down and answering. The amusement had escaped his expression again. "I don't know. It might be a long time. You might want to start thinking about what you'd like to do if you _can't_ go back to your old life."

"What?" Vlad frowned at him, leaning back in his chair slightly. "I thought you weren't kidnapping me."

"I'm not. I'm worried about you, even if you haven't figured out how worried _you_ should be yet." Danny watched him silently for a moment, a gaze that was almost as unsettling as his excessive familiarity, before adding, "You should realize the GiW hunt ghosts, but they aren't so fixated they won't pick up a human they think has useful information. You could be bad news for your friends if you go back right now, your dad too. If they don't think your buddies can tell them where you are, they might leave them alone, but I'm keeping an eye out anyway. You're lucky it's so obvious how clueless your dad is, or he'd have gotten picked up already."

The thought of Jack being caught by them, after what happened, was a peculiar mix of pleasure and guilt. He'd probably starve to death the first night, he ate like an army. Maddie, though, or even his father, as little as they got along…

"Stop badmouthing my father." He wasn't sure why he felt compelled to defend him, even when he agreed with everything Danny had to say about the man. Maybe it was a sense of lingering filial duty.

"Sorry. Sorry." He offered Vlad a half-smile. "Anyway, you're stuck with me for a while. So I'll try to at least make it comfortable. You sure you don't want anything other than cereal?"

"I never said I wanted cereal in the first place. That was _your_ suggestion," Vlad pointed out. "I wantsome vegetables, before my growth's stunted because I'm eating nothing but garbage."

"You know what I like the best about you, kid?" Danny answered faintly, with what Vlad assumed was a rhetorical question. "You're so damn polite about things. It just makes you a real pleasure to be around."

"I didn't ask to come here." Vlad was starting to realize that he was going to be trapped with a man he could barely stand, a man who was alternately creepy, reassuring and threatening, and who didn't seem to like him that much either. The question of why Danny had come after him in the first place still nagged. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the concept of helping others, even selflessly, but he didn't trust blindly in the idea either. It didn't really fit with Danny's demands that Vlad stop fighting ghosts entirely, leaving Madison to protect itself from supernatural threats. He'd killed men, maybe several men, to save Vlad. It was as if Danny thought Vlad's life more valuable than anyone else's, despite barely knowing him and not getting along with him. That was more unnerving the more he thought about it. And it still led back to that larger question of _why_. "Are you really going to help me get home, eventually?"

"Are you in that much of a hurry to leave?" Danny stood up, taking his own now-empty bowl to the sink. "What do you do for fun? I could buy you some books, or video games, or whatever."

"I don't waste my time with pointless games." He tried to fight back his anger at being trapped here, and told himself that after all, he could choose to fly off anytime now that he was feeling better. After hearing about how Danny had been secretly _filming_ him before they even met, it was hard to trust that Danny would just let him go. "How long will it take for it to be safe for me to go home?"

"Jeez, kid, I don't know." Danny gave him a look that was an odd mix of frustration and fondness. Vlad wasn't reassured. "You do understand I'm not responsible for all this, right? I'm just trying to help you make the best of a bad situation. You're the guy who kept flying around town all hours until they finally caught you. Remember me trying to warn you off that?"

"I remember you tricking me into your library and telling me how all-powerful you are, and insulting my father," Vlad said irritably. "And you acting as if you knew all about me, after secretly filming me. I haven't forgotten any of that."

"Okay, okay, so I could've handled that better." Danny shrugged a little, leaning near the sink still. "You still haven't thanked me for dragging your butt out of there, you know."

Vlad glared at him for a moment, but managed to force out, " _Thank_ you."

"That's all I wanted." Danny's smile was far too triumphant for the small victory.


	7. Vlad and the Ghost Zone

Vlad had been wearing clothes borrowed from Danny, a bit too long for him but manageable. Danny had apparently gone shopping while he was out, and Vlad found himself with a closet of new clothes that were all his size. It was another example of thoughtful _and_ unsettling behavior. At least it meant he wouldn't have to choose between rolled-up pants legs and sleeves or the ghost costume.

When he'd finished changing into a green t-shirt and jeans, Danny knocked on the door to Vlad's bedroom and called in, "Are you decent yet? We're going on a trip tonight."

Since Danny had been so insistent on Vlad not going home, the idea that they were both going to go out someplace together seemed strange. Still, Vlad suspected he was already pushing Danny's patience, and until he had a better idea what the man wanted from him or how to stand up to Danny's level of power, arguing too much was dangerous. After glancing over himself in the mirror, he opened the door.

"Where are we going?" It was already dark out, and there had been no signs of other buildings anywhere nearby when they'd descended to the cabin. Still, Danny could travel more quickly than Vlad...

"Ghost Zone. You haven't been in there yet, right?" Danny grinned at him, as if he were offering a present.

Vlad hadn't been in there. Not for lack of interest, so much as a desire to avoid the government agents who protected the now-active ghost portal and a touch of hesitancy to deal with something that had already caused him so much trouble. He'd never really thought about _any_ human, other than maybe the GiW, going into the Ghost Zone on purpose. Just judging from what came out of that place, it seemed too dangerous. Of course, he'd never had a chance to explore it with a guide before. Vlad narrowed his eyes a bit, but managed a polite, "No, I haven't."

"Great. You can learn new things. Widen your horizons and all that." Danny reached over as if to put a hand on Vlad's shoulder, seemed to rethink it mid-gesture, and turned it into a sweeping arm motion instead. "You might wanna go ghost for this one."

The lab was the same as when Vlad had last seen it, although this time he was following Danny down into it. When they arrived, the door was still locked, but Danny went over to it, incidentally hiding the controls from Vlad with his body. Rather than try to peer around him, Vlad glanced around at the room once more, now feeling a bit less guilty.

"What's that stuff behind the glass?" He could recognize most of the things in the room, or at least guess at their purpose, but the locked-away objects all seemed a bit more mysterious.

"Mine." Danny stood up straight again, as a light next to the door started flashing red. "All of that stuff is stuff you shouldn't mess with. The rest of it you can probably handle okay, if you've been using so much of the Guys' weapons, but those are off-limits. And I _really_ mean that, all right?"

Something about his emphasis was a bit insulting, though Vlad wondered with a touch of paranoia if Danny knew he'd been down here already. "All right. Fine." And if he was just fine with Vlad touching the _obvious_ weapons, what did that mean those items could do? He stared at the glass wall a moment longer, until he realized Danny was giving him a faintly sour look.

"We can hold a tour later. I don't like leaving this open too long, you've seen what happens from your hometown." Danny pressed a more obvious button to the side of the doors, and they slid open, revealing a familiar and faintly nauseating swirl. Vlad hadn't seen it since his accident. It looked the same as he remembered, though, unnatural and constantly moving, as if it were a washing machine with differently shaded green liquids inside. How could humans go through that? The last time he'd been anywhere near one, it had changed him forever.

Since Danny was still looking at him expectantly, Vlad stepped closer. The bright green glow of the doorway made his suit look a bit off-color, and he wondered pointlessly what the teal skin looked like under that light. "Do you come in here often?"

"Often's a strong word." Danny seemed to consider his answer before clarifying. "I guess you could say I go in there more than anybody else who's at least half human. A few times a month, just to check on things, make sure the people in there I know are doing all right."

"Are you really friends with that many ghosts?" He felt a little foolish asking so many questions, especially after the rebuff he'd gotten for asking about the items locked away, but Danny seemed to be in a more even mood again.

"Sure I am." Danny stepped next to Vlad in front of the door. "In fact, we're going to see one of my friends now. I'm hoping he'll be willing to help us with your little identity problem."

Vlad pushed back the urge to ask who exactly they were going to see. It couldn't be anyone _he'd_ know, if they were actually friends with Danny. "Well, you know the way..."

"Yeah. No need to be nervous, you'll like it. C'mon." Danny put a hand on his shoulder, but Vlad didn't try to pull away this time. Even the strange older half-ghost was somewhat reassuring in the face of that portal to an unknown world. When Danny stepped forward, into the green swirling energy, Vlad followed along, hoping he wasn't making a big mistake.

The rest of the short trip through the door itself was floating, or something like floating, as gravity seemed to give up its grip on them. Vlad was nearly blinded by the light of the portal itself, and had wondered how anyone got around to 'make friends' when they came out the other side, into a world that was set on a field of black, each solid floating object seeming to cast its own supernatural light.

It wasn't what he'd expected at all. Rocks that sometimes seemed to hint at shapes, doors that seemed to lead from and to nowhere, distant green shapes that Vlad gradually realized were passing ghosts. Floating wasn't quite as easy as in the doorway itself, but he found himself taking to flight a bit more naturally than on Earth, an odd sense of comfort with the alien surroundings filling him. Maybe it was because he was in the ghost form, and this was where ghosts belonged. Danny was watching him for his reaction, and he tried to look calm, rather than awed or lost.

"This way. His home should be around here..." Danny headed off, letting Vlad's shoulder go for now.

It felt strange to be left to his own devices, trusted to follow, but Vlad resisted the urge to try and run from the man. This place, even if it didn't feel that bad, was where every non-governmental threat he'd ever faced came from. Getting lost here might be a disaster. And maybe Danny did know someone here who could make it easier for Vlad to go back to his own life. It would be foolish to not even try.

As they floated along, Danny started explaining the sights. "The Ghost Zone doesn't work like the human world... well, I guess that part's obvious. There's a lot of weird spacial warps. Doors that open to different places each time you open them, for example."

"How does anyone find their way?" Vlad looked around while trying to stick close to Danny. "Is your friend's home near?"

"It takes some instincts to learn to get around. There's some magic things that can help you find your way reliably, special maps and compasses, but those are rare and most ghosts just get the hang of it from living here." Danny shrugged with one shoulder. "And he should be near, but that's the other weird thing about this place. Stuff _moves_. Some ghosts seem to move their lairs on purpose, to make themselves harder to find. Others just gradually drift. One of the unusual things about the artificial ghost portals is that they stay still unless you change their frequency to open them into a different spot in the Ghost Zone. That's part of why the portal in your hometown keeps spitting out ghosts. Once they realize there's a stable, easy to find way out into the human world, they start practically lining up at the door. I try to keep mine locked and change where it opens up every now and then, just for safety's sake. People I want to meet know how to find me."

"You keep calling the ghosts people." Something furry with two heads had passed nearby, glaring once and then twice at them. Vlad resisted the urge to back up closer to Danny.

"Some of 'em are. Some are more like animals, some are more like forces of nature with faces... Manners never hurt. If they're smart enough to understand you, they're people, and if they're not, it's good to at least check. The smart ones don't always look human, so don't judge by that." Danny's floating stopped abruptly, and he pointed at a brightly lit white building that had a set of stairs leading up from nowhere to a doorway, surrounded by what looked like glowing marble pillars. "That's where we're going. He's pretty human looking, but he can be a little moody, so let me do the talking at first."

"Moody?" Vlad didn't quite like the sound of that. "What sort of moody?"

"Oh, he's a brooding artist," Danny answered off-handedly, leaving Vlad to contemplate a ghost artist. It really didn't fit with what he'd seen of the ghost world so far—then again, it was becoming obvious that Danny was right about his ignorance of what he'd been fighting. That fact didn't make him feel any better, but he followed Danny up to the door, and waited as he knocked politely.

The door cracked open after a few moments, a gray-skinned man with green eyes and an unlikely long goatee peeking out. "Who—oh, it's you." He didn't sound very friendly. He sounded annoyed.

"Hi, G.W. I said I was going to drop by, didn't you get my message?" Danny smiled at him as if he couldn't recognize the glare on the ghost's face.

"I'm not looking at my mail right now, I'm in the middle of something and I didn't want interruptions." The ghost gritted his teeth, which Vlad realized with a touch of surprise were all sharply pointed. "And my name is not Gee-Double-U."

"Sure, sorry for the trouble." Danny took Vlad by the shoulders, pushing him forward as if displaying him. "Kid, this is the Ghost Writer. Ghost Writer, this is the kid I wrote you about... which I guess you didn't read."

"My name isn't the kid. _Billy_ is 'the kid.' My name is Vlad." Vlad felt a little more comfortable giving the correction again when in front of another ghost with the same complaint. Even if he looked irritable, maybe he wasn't so bad, since he was letting Danny come annoy him instead of going on the attack. Just standing and talking with a ghost, with no real intention to fight, was a little strange.

"Mm, no." Ghost Writer looked him over skeptically. "Vlad isn't right at all. Is that what you wanted, Phantom, someone to name him properly?"

"Not exactly." Danny seemed to take the idea that the Ghost Writer would simply change Vlad's name on the spot in stride, while Vlad tried to figure out why the ghost called him Phantom instead of Danny or Fenton. "See, the kid here... _Vlad_ here got himself in some trouble with the government. An 'oh no everyone knows my secret' thing. And I was wondering if you could..."

"I don't write for you, Phantom." Ghost Writer's eyes seemed to glint red for a moment, making Vlad tense up, although Danny seemed calm still. "And I certainly don't write your problems away for you."

The ghost had to be lying. Or more likely, exaggerating. Vlad found himself shifting back closer to Danny again anyway.

"I know, I know, but this isn't really for _me_. It's for this poor kid, saddled with a terrible name and everything. Look at him! He can't even go home." Danny pushed Vlad forward again, leaving Vlad feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Still, if the ghost could help... He tried to offer his best innocent face. Maybe, in the ghost realm, the pointy teeth and red eyes wouldn't even ruin the effect.

At least Ghost Writer seemed to look at Vlad with slightly less distaste than his glares at Danny. "Well, what's your story so far, then? Someone in the human government saw you change?"

Answering that humans didn't all have one government seemed too cheeky. Vlad restrained himself to a single nod.

"Too bad." Ghost Writer looked up at Danny again. "But not my problem."

"I know it's not your problem. This isn't me asking you to fix something you did, it's a mission of mercy. And not even mercy for me." Danny put a hand on Vlad's head, as if emphasizing his smallness, right between the odd hair spikes his ghost form always manifested. "Please?"

"I don't even see why you're asking me." Ghost Writer's lips curled faintly as if in distaste. "You don't need my help to..."

"Yeah, I do," Danny spoke quickly, before Ghost Writer could finish talking, leaving Vlad wondering what Danny was trying to cover up. "I always depend on my friends, you know that."

"I do not know that and we are _not_ friends."

At least they weren't 'not friends' to the degree that the ghost would attack... yet. Vlad was starting to wonder if Danny was holding him in front not to show him off, but as a human shield.

"Okay, maybe you're right." Danny sighed, a bit too heavily. "I should have figured it'd be too much to ask. Sorry for bothering you."

Reverse psychology? Vlad glanced back at him skeptically. He wasn't even being subtle about...

"Of course I _could_ do it," Ghost Writer answered with a touch of pique. "I just don't see any point in it."

"Well, I thought you could help Vlad here have a happy ending. He's gone through a lot of bad experiences lately, y'know." Danny was back to smiling at the ghost. "And I don't really have that kind of sense for narrative. You're the one who has finesse. If I tried to fix it I'd just use brute force and it'd wind up messy."

"That much is obvious without saying. You wouldn't know delicacy if it were sent to you in a labeled box." Ghost Writer stared at Vlad again, this time speculatively, as if starting to see some potential there. It made him very uncomfortable.

"Oh, c'mon. I know that look." Danny pressed his advantage. "You've got an idea for it already. And Vlad's a great name for you, right? Rhymes with all sorts of stuff!"

"That's not an issue!" For whatever reason, Ghost Writer seemed a bit stung by that, and went back to glaring at Danny. "If I have time to work on it I can make _anything_ scan properly. I'd like to see you try to write on the fly the way I can!"

"I can't. That's why I'm here," Danny pointed out.

After a few more seconds of glaring, Ghost Writer sighed, and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I'll think about it. If I decide to help I'll tell you. But I'm still in the middle of something, so it won't be immediate, even if I do feel like writing it for you."

"A little consideration's all we ask." Danny pulled Vlad back a bit, to his side again. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with."

"You are _not_. Don't waste my time with pointless flattery." The door slammed shut, leaving the two half-ghosts outside.

"That went pretty well." Letting out a long breath, Danny seemed to relax, some odd edge under his false cheer draining away. "He's really not that bad a guy. I mean, he listened to us. I think he likes you."

"How could he like me? He doesn't know me," Vlad pointed out, a bit unbalanced and still confused by the conversation he'd heard. "Why were you talking with him like that, as if he can just make my problems go away? Even if he can affect some localized area with his ghost powers, it doesn't mean he can..."

"What makes you think so? Because you haven't met the heavy hitters around here, you think they don't exist?" Danny gave Vlad a pointed look. "He's not the biggest thing in here, either. His main trick's got a few serious flaws, and he's too much of a recluse to run around trying to play conqueror. As long as you leave him alone, it doesn't matter what he writes, he won't bother writing about you since it might invite you to his doorstep."

" _We're_ on his doorstep, and we just interrupted him," Vlad said uneasily. "If he's as powerful as you claim, why would you even risk dealing with him?"

"Because it's true that he's better at this kind of thing." Danny looked at the door again, as if he could see through it to the ghost inside. "He's right that I might be able to do something on my own. But it'd be dangerous, more dangerous than letting him come up with a full story about how you get to go home. If I try and write that story myself, there's going to be holes in it. I might change things I don't mean to, or miss something important and mess it all up."

"Are you saying _you_ can 'rewrite' reality too?" Vlad couldn't help the heavy skepticism in his voice. It was more graceful a response than terror at the casual way Danny talked about it. As if he'd already tried changing reality, and had made some mistakes in the process.

"Maybe." Danny's lips pressed together tightly, as if he were biting back some response, before he looked down at Vlad again with a strange shadow over his expression. "Listen, this is another important thing to understand. I'm okay with you doing some stuff, pushing barriers. That's what a teenager does. It's how you learn. But there are some things you can't get at right now, and of those, there's a particular thing I only keep for two reasons. One, because I don't trust anyone else with it, and two, for a ghost that you'll hopefully never meet. And I told myself I wasn't going to use it unless that ghost shows up again, and he's probably not going to, so you don't have to worry about me changing the world around to suit my mood." He took another deep breath, and closed his eyes for a second. He looked as if he were bracing himself before he opened his eyes again. "I am not going to tell you what it is, just that it's one of those things I keep locked up in the basement. But if you manage to get into there, and get your hands on the thing I'm talking about, I _will_ kill you."

The calm and sincere way he said it was chilling, more than the burst of anger before. Vlad stared at him, not sure what to say. The strange atmosphere of the Ghost Zone seemed less comfortable, as if he suddenly realized the danger he was in, dealing with these people, going to this place blindly.

Danny shook his head once, and tried to smile again. It came out lopsided. "You don't have to gawk at me like that. I'm not trying to get you hurt. The opposite, in fact. If you got your hands on that thing, killing you might be the nicest thing I could do. Humans aren't meant to have that kind of power."

Glancing back at the door for a second, he explained, "It's fine for Ghost Writer to have that power, because he's a ghost, and he's fixated on something that means he'll leave other people alone. If nobody comes and pisses him off, he'll stay in there for years, writing and reading and just using his powers to entertain and support himself. There's a few other ghosts like him, ones that have abilities that would be really dangerous. They usually have some kind of control on them, an aspect of their personalities that makes them just decide _not_ to use their powers on everything. When someone with their strength goes nuts, it can create total chaos. They're mostly smart enough to avoid that—and the few who aren't are kept down by the rest. The Ghost Zone's actually really orderly, for being what it is. If all the ghosts thought the way humans do, there'd never be peace here or in the human world. The ones you fight are petty little ghosts who get grand ideas about their strength in comparison to humans. That's why they go to the human world, because they know they'll be outmatched here."

The whole idea was unsettling on a level that went past the calm death threat. It was as if everything Vlad had thought he knew about the world, or about ghosts, had been turned on end. Danny was explaining the way the world really worked to him, and it wasn't what he'd thought. "Why do they let any ghosts get away with behaving like that, if they're so powerful and want things to be peaceful?"

"The same reason I'm not jumping for that thing I've got locked in the basement. They know it's too much, like hunting mice with a shotgun." Danny shrugged. "And a lot of 'em aren't so much out for peace as to be left alone, like G.W. here. He can be a nasty guy if you really rile him up. But even when I did that, he didn't just write me out of existence. He wrote a story about me learning not to be a jerk to people, ghost or otherwise, just because I was in a bad mood. Kinda got carried away with it, but the thought was nice."

"So you've experienced some ghost writing your life differently, and you're okay with that?" It was too much to accept. "If you're not afraid of him, what kind of ghost is it that you're saving 'that thing' for?"

"You don't need to know that yet." Danny turned away from the door, stepping down the staircase as if he couldn't just fly off. "Let's head back, before one of those dumb little ghosts decides to try to conquer my basement."


	8. Vlad and Preparation

When they returned, Vlad made a somewhat unsubtle show of not looking at the glowing glass barrier to the side, but Danny didn't comment on it. He told Vlad to go upstairs while he locked the 'back door,' and Vlad obeyed, still feeling uncomfortable around the older man.

He didn't want to believe him, even now. It just seemed impossible that the difference in their power could be that great. The little tricks of building an energy shield, or shooting a dark pink ectoplasmic blast, seemed inconsequential in the face of what Danny claimed to be capable of. Even if the real power was in some object that Danny kept downstairs, it meant that somehow, Danny was able to beat anyone else who wanted it and keep it for himself. Surely, if it was even half as powerful as it sounded, there were those in either world who'd give anything for it.

The fact that Danny claimed never to use it was almost as upsetting. What was the point in having it, if he didn't take advantage of it? And what kind of ghost would drive him to that extreme, if not one who casually talked about changing reality with the right words? If Vlad had power like that... _if_ he did, so many uses came to mind. Not even bad uses, really. Keep the 'little ghosts,' as Danny put it, from invading the human world. Make a better life for himself and his father.

He could make Maddie happy. Not something so crude as just making her like him, but changing circumstances so he became the sort of person she'd like. Jack, now Jack was another question. Revenge for his accident and subsequent trials seemed too petty in the face of unlimited power. With that much power, he would practically be a god. Of course he'd be a kind one. Jack could be perfectly happy too... just somewhere else, far away from Vlad and Maddie.

His idle imaginings stopped short there. If that power would make him like a god, what did that make Danny, now?

The other half-ghost rose up through the floor as if on cue, and gave Vlad a curious look. "Were you waiting on me?"

"No." Vlad turned back to his human form, supposing their trip was over. "When do you think your 'friend' will tell us he'll help me?"

"Who knows?" Danny changed back as well, and stretched his arms over his head with a wide yawn. "Are you tired? I'm about ready to head to bed myself."

After what they'd talked about, such a normal statement seemed odd. Danny's behavior, casual in the face of the unfathomable, was offputting. Vlad frowned at him, but answered carefully, "I guess. How late is it?"

Danny glanced at his watch. "About ten. I'll try and come home earlier tomorrow, so you aren't so bored. By the way... Don't try to go down there again tonight. I set up a shield. Just to be safe, since the portal was open so long."

Something about that statement seemed odd, as if Danny wasn't telling him something, but Vlad decided it wasn't worth asking. He'd already learned more than he wanted today. "Fine. Good night."

"Night, ki—Vlad. See you tomorrow."

The spare bedroom Danny had lent him was comfortable, and even larger than his own room at his father's house, but Vlad couldn't make himself sleep. The visit to the Ghost Zone, the mysterious objects behind the glass wall downstairs, and Danny's behavior were all too strange. Fantasizing about that kind of power was one thing, but he could tell already that he'd stand no chance against Danny in a direct fight. He believed Danny's claim of being willing to kill him. Danny had killed before, after all, even if he got angry at Vlad for pointing it out. It wouldn't even be a challenge for the older man, if the power he'd shown in the GiW complex was any sign. Not to mention the unsettling extra power he'd talked about having sealed away in the basement...

Although that shouldn't count, really, Vlad decided. It wasn't _his_ power, not if he refused to use it. It was just power he kept lying around on the off-chance he'd want it. The joke would really be on him, if whatever ghost he was so afraid of showed up and he didn't get the chance to rush downstairs and grab the thing.

That wasn't even the biggest problem, Vlad thought, staring up at the ceiling over his bed. The real danger was that the unknown ghost, or even some other ghost, might break in and get whatever it was. Instead of being some last-ditch emergency power, it could be the emergency, and leave Danny in a worse position than just fighting off whatever ghost he was so worried about.

Vlad supposed that, despite his strange behavior and odd blend of threats and reassurances, Danny didn't seem that bad. Not really. Not compared to what he was capable of. But he wasn't very smart, outside of engineering and inventing. That was common, someone being quite bright in one field and a little dense in another. Danny was socially a bit stunted, although some of that might be due to his unusual (to say the least) lifestyle, and he just didn't seem to plan very well. Had he honestly thought cornering Vlad would make Vlad like him?

Finally, drowsiness started to ease over him, and his wandering thoughts started to slow. The last thing that came to mind was the fact that, if he had the power Danny had, he'd certainly find better uses for it.

* * *

True to his word, Danny returned home in the early afternoon the next day, sparing Vlad from death by boredom but condemning him to spending more time with the man instead. Vlad wasn't sure exactly when Danny returned since he was judging time by the sun outside and his internal clock; there weren't any obvious clocks or timepieces in the cabin. He'd looked.

"Miss me?" Danny at least didn't wait for whatever sarcastic response Vlad could come up with. "I brought you some stuff."

In fact, he'd brought a rather large box of 'stuff,' large enough that Vlad suspected he could only carry it so easily thanks to the ghost powers. Placing it on the den's floor, he started to pull out the contents, describing them as he went.

"Some of it's just to keep you entertained while you're stuck here. I've been meaning to get a satellite set up for just TV out here anyway, when I'm waiting for something to finish downstairs that doesn't need me to poke at it I get kinda bored."

Danny had bought him a television and satellite dish? Vlad stared at the admittedly small but sophisticated-looking flat screen, and the small dish Danny had placed next to it on the floor while digging through the box. It wasn't that Vlad was poor, not by any means. His father's work with the government was highly specialized and kept them both very comfortable. But not so comfortable that they could make this sort of purchase on an impulse.

"These are my books, so try not to mess them up too much, okay?" Danny was now removing several worn-looking books that Vlad had to assume came from his main house's library. "Most of these have stuff about ghosts. The real stuff, even if it's got a lot of legend and guessing mixed in. There's notes I put in there that should make it clear which is which. You wanted to know more about the Ghost Zone after our trip, right?"

Vlad was still trying not to think too hard about the television. In a strange way, he felt insulted, as if Danny were trying to buy him. Or maybe the man was just hoping a distracted Vlad would be a little more polite, and the gifts really were inconsequential compared to his fortune. "Yes... did you bring any food?"

"I told you I would!" Danny's response was more jovial than correcting, as he next withdrew a metallic bag. "They shouldn't have gotten too squished in there, I packed carefully. The way you fixate on getting fruits and vegetables reminds me of someone."

"I don't fixate on it, I just care about my body." Vlad snatched the bag up a little too abruptly. Either Danny was about to indulge in some reminiscing or more talk about ghosts he'd met, and Vlad really wasn't in the mood for that. He glanced inside. The contents looked all right, some apples and oranges with lettuce, onions and tomatoes. Not a lot of variety, but better than food mix from a box. "...Thanks."

"You're welcome!" Not offended by Vlad not asking about his past, Danny went back to unpacking the box. "The rest of this is mostly for me. I figured I'd work on a few little projects while I'm here. There's something I think might be able to help you too, though. How do you feel about having black hair as a human again?"

Vlad supposed there were plenty of images and records of him with black hair before the accident, although it didn't make him feel much better about Danny looking into those to find out. "I don't mind it, but I don't think the government's agents will be fooled just because I dye my hair."

"I wasn't suggesting we stop at that." Danny had laid out a few objects on the floor that were obviously electronic but which Vlad couldn't quite identify. "That's just to make sure the funky hair doesn't stick out. Don't get me wrong, it looks kind of nice on you. Makes you look edgy. Girls like bad boys, you'll probably have them falling all over you once you're out of the awkward stage."

Vlad gritted his teeth and tried counting to calm himself down after the insult offered with a backhanded compliment. It didn't completely work. "And what _else_ do you suggest?" His voice was a bit snappier than he'd wanted.

"Muting the ghost half." Danny looked up at him as he answered, not responding to the tone in Vlad's voice. "It's not as hard as you'd think, although I can't make it last for more than a few hours without risking either killing you or the ghost in you. If a guy with dark hair and different clothes with no ghost half meets with your friends or dad, there's a better chance we can avoid you or them getting picked up." He hesitated for a moment before adding, a bit awkwardly, "You ever fight Technus?"

The question seemed completely random, which was enough to surprise Vlad into answering simply, "Yes, a few times."

"Well, this hurts a bit, but it's not the worst. It's sorta like getting hit by his zappy-stick." Danny looked down at the parts in front of him, and started assembling them right on the floor, as if the finished product in his mind might slip away if he didn't start working immediately. "I can get most of it done tonight. By tomorrow you'll be ready to go sneak into Madison for an hour or so. You shouldn't wander around too long, though, even with this."

Vlad sat down on the couch to watch Danny work, having already forgotten about the television. He'd brought a screwdriver with the box, but no other tools. Much of it seemed to come together as if it had been designed to be easily assembled. "Why do you know how to make this? Did you have to do this before?"

"Something like that." Danny paused, looking up at Vlad again. "This is going to take a while. Do you think you can set up the satellite yourself?"

A year ago, Vlad might have doubted it, just because he'd never tried before. Now that he'd started investigating the GiW's tools and weapons, he felt more at home with complex electronics, even if Danny's work was still a bit mysterious. "Probably. Do you want me to do it now?"

The flat-lipped, eyebrow raised stare Danny gave him translated just as clearly as when Vlad's father gave it. Instead of arguing that he'd rather stay and watch what Danny was doing, he picked the small dish up and changed to his ghost form before floating up through the ceiling with it.

As it turned out, setting up a satellite wasn't really _technically_ difficult since Danny had written some brief notes about the direction it should be aimed on the installation guide, but it was a bit annoying, as he had to keep heading up to slightly adjust the angles of it before floating back down to see how the television looked. At least he could fly up to the roof to do it, and didn't have to worry about falling off the side.

By the time he'd finished, Danny was still working, although he'd moved to the couch and had the parts of his project laid out on the small coffee table. He seemed to be absorbed in it now, and Vlad decided against interrupting him. Instead, he put away the vegetables and fruit in the kitchen, since it was obvious Danny wasn't going to bother, before turning to the books Danny had brought.

They all had some wear and tear, especially when Vlad opened them and saw that Danny wasn't kidding about the notes. Every page seemed to have markings across the margins, short phrases that seemed to confirm, correct or disagree with whatever the book said about some particular paranormal topic. They were mostly obvious, although a few seemed to go beyond fact-checking and into personal opinion. One full-page drawing of an armored ghost surrounded by flames had an arrow drawn to it, and the words "Huge Douche" underlined several times.

For the most part, the books seemed to be full of negative corrections, comments that indicated whatever the writer said was slightly off-base or entirely fabricated. The few confirmations seemed more dramatic for their rarity, and weren't hard to find as those pages usually had slightly larger words for emphasis or more detailed notes. Some indicated that Danny had personally met the ghost in question, others seemed more like his comments based on what he'd learned from study or heard. Heard from ghosts?

He didn't realize how much time had passed until his stomach growled, and he looked up to see Danny still concentrating on his work. The windows showed that the sun had gone down. It didn't seem as if Danny was planning on stopping anytime soon, so Vlad went into the kitchen to fix his own dinner.

Lettuce, tomato and onion wasn't really much of a salad, and there was no salad dressing, but Vlad put a little mayonnaise in it and supposed that was good enough. It was an improvement over yesterday's dinner, at least. He finished eating and washed out his bowl, then came back into the den to see Danny still frowning over the small device.

"Are you going to eat?" It wasn't that Vlad was concerned for his health if he didn't, but he thought concentrating so hard on something without a break might lead to mistakes, and if he was going to be electrocuted in the name of disguise he would rather be sure the device was working right.

"Huh?" Danny seemed to shake himself awake, and gave Vlad a half-smile. "You eat?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Good." He turned back to his work, as if he'd already forgotten his guest was standing there. "I'll eat later."

When Vlad went to bed, Danny was still sitting in the den, humming under his breath while he focused.


	9. Vlad and Jack and Maddie

The next morning, Vlad had somehow expected Danny to still be on the couch, either working or asleep from exhaustion. Instead, there was a small black box with prongs sitting on the coffee table, and when Vlad listened at Danny's door he heard snoring.

He was impatient to get back to Madison, although he wasn't entirely sure why. His father might be worried, but he was just as likely to be angry over Vlad's disappearance, especially when Vlad couldn't tell him why he'd disappeared in the first place. Maddie was occupied with Jack. And Jack was...

Vlad supposed at least he could know what he was missing out on during his absence. Despite himself, he was a bit worried about the regular ghost attacks continuing without him there to hold them back. The GiW had already proven somewhat incompetent at keeping the ghosts at bay, and while Maddie seemed very dedicated to ghost fighting, she couldn't possibly fight them all back herself. Jack was equally enthused but just as likely to trip up those around him as to help them win a fight. Without his powers, both of them were at a serious disadvantage.

He'd like to think Danny would let him know if there was trouble in his hometown, but Danny had been rather closed-mouthed about what was going on beyond suggesting that his father was worried. Vlad wasn't positive he'd believe it if Danny told him they were fine, anyway. Danny seemed to be trying to help, but there was something too pushy about his desire to get along with Vlad, and Vlad was sure there were still things Danny wasn't telling him. At least the books evened out a little of their imbalance when it came to understanding ghosts... assuming he could trust those.

After breakfast, Vlad had taken it upon himself to read the instructions on the hair dye box and return himself to the black hair he'd had before the accident. It was easier than bleaching it would have been, he guessed, but it still took a few hours to sink in. He finished rinsing his hair and examining the results in the mirror without any sign of Danny. He'd been growing impatient and wondering if he shouldn't go wake Danny up himself when the door to Danny's bedroom opened, and the man came out still in pajama pants and no top, hair uncombed.

"Hey, morning, kid." He yawned widely, not bothering to cover his mouth, and squinted at one of the windows. "Or afternoon. What time is it?"

"I don't know. You don't seem to own a clock." Vlad frowned at him, but Danny ignored it, and if he noticed Vlad's hair was already colored he didn't comment.

"Yeah? Gonna take a shower. Make some coffee, okay?" Not waiting for Vlad to agree or disagree, he walked through the bathroom door without opening it.

He wasn't sure why he obeyed. Maybe he was just hoping that giving Danny caffeine would hurry their trip back to Madison. When Danny came out, he was dry but looked a lot neater than a few minutes ago, even though he was still wearing the pajamas. His expression was a bit dull until after the first cup of coffee. As that was finished, he seemed to finally focus on Vlad directly, as if he'd just remembered Vlad was there.

"You looking forward to seeing your friends again?"

"Mm. Yes. I suppose so." Vlad didn't want to seem too eager. It would just give Danny more control over the situation, if he knew how much Vlad wanted to check on his home. Then again, his taking the hair dye into his own hands (or hair) was probably evidence enough.

"It's not going to be long, okay? We can only keep your powers down for a few hours, and we need to get in and out of town before it wears off. Otherwise, there's a chance they'll find you. They know what your signature's like, now." Danny was pouring himself a second cup of coffee, but his tone had lost the sleepy carelessness of before.

"My signature?" Vlad frowned, confused. "What signature?"

"The ectoplasmic energy signature." Danny hesitated. "The magic ghosty energy waves you give off."

"You don't have to put it _that_ simply." Vlad didn't quite keep annoyance out of his voice.

"Well, it's a lot easier to find a specific ghost when you know what he lets off. All ghosts are a little different. Stronger ghosts usually are easier to detect, but that's not really a hard rule. You'd be about middling, enough that they could probably find you if they were looking specifically for you... which they will be." Danny tilted his cup back to finish the coffee. "I'll be ready in a minute. You should be thinking about what you want to tell them, because you won't have time to decide once we're there."

Vlad wasn't sure why he was surprised that Danny came into the living room in the jumpsuited ghost form. Flying him there in a three-piece suit or pajamas probably wouldn't be very comfortable. Although...

"If they can detect a ghost's signature, does that mean they can find you?" Vlad stood up from the couch, and wondered if he should transform too, or if the device Danny had built would work as well in human form.

"They don't have exact scans of me, but they'll pick me up so long as I'm not subtle. I'll be keeping them off you for a bit, they won't be able to catch me." Danny took the pronged device from the table, and seemed to consider it for a moment, before looking to Vlad again. "Might wanna brace yourself. Here we go."

It did hurt, more than he'd expected. When he realized he'd yelled and flinched away, he was embarrassed, but there was something different about him as the shock wore off. As if something in him was muted, something he'd started taking for granted. Vlad gave the device a sour look, and tried to change, just to see if it worked. No black rings appeared around him, not even a brief spark.

"Good. Today's Saturday, your friends should be at home or wherever you guys usually hang out." Without asking permission, Danny picked Vlad up off the ground, carrying him in one arm. "We'll be going fast to get you in and out of Madison before the thing wears off, so hold on tight, you won't be able to fly if I drop you."

The ability to fly had been one of the first he'd mastered, and he'd practically forgotten what it was like to fall. The idea of rediscovering it by splattering himself across the ground between here and Madison wasn't very pleasant. He wrapped his arms around Danny's torso, feeling a bit foolish.

The flight was as fast as when Danny had brought him to the cabin, and it was more disorienting since Vlad was feeling better, and fully aware of the trip. He kept his grip around Danny, irrationally afraid that Danny might let go. They were invisible again, something that still felt strange without Vlad having conscious control of it. At least it meant nobody would glance up and see a man carrying a teenager through the sky.

Danny seemed to have an instinctual awareness of where they were, or maybe he had just memorized the route, but he didn't seem to pause or consider direction. He was quiet, which was good, because Vlad wasn't sure he'd be able to hear anything said over the wind.

They came down on the edges of town, a suburb close enough for Vlad to reach his own house and those of his friends on foot, but not quite on his front door.

"I'll be back in an hour and a half. Two more hours and you're gonna be setting off every ghost radar in Wisconsin." Danny drifted up into the air again. Vlad almost thought he looked eager, although he couldn't imagine why. "I'll keep the bastards busy, but watch your back anyhow, okay? Don't bother coming to look for me, I'm going to pick you up when it's time to go."

"Okay." Vlad wondered how far he could really get, on foot and as a human. Not far enough that he could avoid Danny, even if he wanted to. "What exactly were you going to do to—"

"No time to chat with me. Get going." Danny vanished again, leaving Vlad wondering what exactly he was planning. But there was no sense in worrying about it, since there was nothing he could do. He just had to trust that Danny wouldn't do anything too bad to Vlad's hometown in the process of distracting the Guys in White.

Seeing his father didn't seem like a good idea. It was too close to tempting fate to go to his own home. Besides, by the time the yelling stopped, he'd be out of time to see Maddie. Instead, he headed straight to Maddie's house, at a speed that was almost a jog. Aware of the time limit, he was afraid running would be too obvious, too suspicious. The hair dye and dimming of his powers didn't mean that he couldn't still be spotted.

Vlad had knocked politely, like any guest, despite his anxiety about being caught, or worse, bringing the attention of the government to her doorstep. He'd expected Maddie's mother to answer. Instead, the door swung open to reveal Jack in all his usual titanic presence. The expression on his face was faintly glum, until it registered who he was looking at, a change that was as obvious as watching a light switched on.

" _Vladdie_!" Jack bellowed happily, and yanked his friend up and off his feet in a tight hug. "Maddie, it's Vlad!"

So much for not being too obvious. Vlad squinted uncomfortably at the pressure Jack was putting on his ribs, and missed his ghostly durability, or at least the ability to slip out of his grip.

"Jack." He wheezed. "Can't breathe."

"Vlad, you're alive!" Maddie had at least come to the door at Jack's call, and after a moment of outright beaming at both of them, seemed to decide to throw out dignity and hug them both. Of course, she couldn't get her arms around both of them, or even around most of Jack, but the effort counted.

It seemed ironic that she'd remark on how alive he was, between the temporary loss of his ghost half and the fact that Jack was obviously trying to crush him to death.

"Still can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry!" At least Jack seemed to hear him that time, and both let go. Jack even lowered Vlad's feet back to the ground carefully. The wide grin frozen on his face was starting to be matched by an alarming dampness in his eyes. "Vladdie, I can't believe you're here! And your hair's even normal!"

Vlad almost wished he'd kept the glum expression. It would be easier to know how to respond to. "Yes... not for long. We should go somewhere else to talk."

"Did they really get you? We heard you yell—we thought for sure—" Maddie swallowed, and Vlad felt strangely ashamed of how happy he was at her reaction to his reappearance.

"All right. Let's go." Strangely, Jack seemed to come back to business, despite his emotional unbalance. "You can tell us all about it when we get someplace more private!"

Maybe Jack had realized too that his presence was a danger to Maddie. Selfish, really, but the sort of selfishness that had always come easily to Vlad. At least he could tell himself that this was _Danny's_ idea.

Their usual spot for relaxing was one of the local fast food franchises, mostly because a Jack near food was a happy Jack. This time, they made their way to a nearby city park, and didn't speak much on the way. The silence wasn't unpleasant, exactly, but the open joy at his reappearance had faded to a more serious edge, the awareness on all of their parts that what had happened went beyond their ghost hunting games before.

They stopped at a tree that had some bushes growing nearby, not enough to really hide behind, but not too obvious either. Vlad had been planning on what to say since last night, but every starting point he had come up with seemed inadequate. Jack and Maddie were looking at him expectantly now, waiting for him to decide how to begin this conversation. If it were just Maddie, maybe he'd have worked up the nerve in light of her relief at his safety to tell her how he felt, despite her affection for Jack. If it were just Jack, maybe he'd lash out with his ongoing anger, as misdirected as it seemed when he was with Jack face-to-face. The two of them together complicated things. And what could he tell them, anyway? What could he say that they'd understand? The fear of his imprisonment, the odd combination of protection and intimidation from Danny, even his sojourn in the Ghost Zone seemed too hard to explain.

He might as well start at the beginning. "Well, I suppose you realized it, but they did catch me."

"We thought so." Maddie looked worried even without knowing the details. "We've been trying to figure out how we could find where they were keeping you, or if... We were afraid it was too late already."

Assuming he'd been killed already was reasonable. Not storming the nearby compound of the GiW to find Vlad was reasonable. There was nothing they could have done for him. He knew it, but didn't feel any better despite that.

"I'm just so glad you're okay!" Jack's enthusiasm got the better of him again, the serious moment before lost as he grinned widely over at Vlad and wiped his face. "I was so worried about you!"

"Okay?" Not okay. He could feel that old anger starting to rise, the memory of Jack and Maddie together suddenly clear again. He hadn't felt okay since then, had been hurt and trapped, terrorized and confused, exposed to powers that he couldn't understand, things he hadn't imagined before. Now both of them were looking concerned again, sympathetic, as if they knew what had happened. But even if he took the time to tell them, they couldn't understand. And what he wanted from Maddie had never been pity. "Well... someone did break in and help me. That creepy guy from the reunion that I told you about."

He hadn't meant to make that sound so accusing. Maddie looked a bit ashamed, while Jack didn't seem to pick up on the undertone at all.

"Man, I'm glad someone did. We weren't sure we'd even make it through the front door without your powers to help, but we were still getting ready to try. Even changed some of the ghost weapons to make 'em more like weapons-weapons." Jack's expression was sincere, some small measure of that seriousness before returning.

Vlad supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Jack had gotten them to break into that less secure lab with Vlad's father's key card, after all. Maybe he really would have led Maddie to her death in a raid on that place. It was almost as upsetting as the idea that they might have never tried at all.

"I've been staying with him out of town the last few days. He has some kind of cabin off in the middle of nowhere." Vlad found himself looking at the ground, unable to look at their faces anymore. It was almost too bad that Ms. Spectra had been sent back to the Ghost Zone, at least someone could benefit from his feelings. "He did something to make the ghost half weaker, so they won't pick me up as easily, but I can't stay long. He said it'd wear off."

"How long do you have?" Maddie asked softly.

"I guess about an hour now." It hadn't seemed like much time before, but now it seemed to stretch out unbearably. "I might be able to get some help from someone he knows, but it's not really a sure thing." Explaining that the help would be from a ghost might make Jack a bit too excited. "I'm not sure when I'll be able to come back for good."

"Your dad's been going nuts. I think the first night, he thought you were just out late like usual, but when you didn't show up again..." Jack looked uncharacteristically awkward. "I think he thinks you got killed somewhere and they just haven't found the body yet."

"I can't really tell him what's happened. Until I'm able to come back for good, I'm just going to put him in danger if I go home. It's risky for me to even come and talk with you both."

"We've kept the ghosts at bay. It's been a lot harder without you, but it helps that we've got some experience fighting them now, and... none of the really bad ones have shown up yet." Maddie was holding back concern, probably not trying to worry him. It worried him anyway.

"He said that they know my ecto-signature now, and that means they could track me if my ghost powers were active." Trying to come back and help them would just put them in more danger. Like their reasons for not coming immediately to his rescue, it felt like an insufficient excuse, no matter how logical he saw that it was. "Do you think you'll be able to hold on a while longer?"

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it." Jack lacked any of Maddie's pensive tone, practically radiating unjustifiable confidence. "You just worry about getting stuff straight so you can come home."

He'd pictured killing Jack. It had been vivid, a moment of pure rage more overpowering than anything he'd felt up to that point in his life. Guilt was worse than rage, especially when he resented feeling it, knew that he'd been imprisoned and tortured and lost his entire life because of a stupid accident that Jack had helped cause. That he'd seen the girl he loved walk off hand in hand with Jack, after he'd risked his life for her. Maybe a bit for them both. It was unfair that he'd have to feel guilty on top of that.

"Jack..." Vlad hadn't realized until now how exhausted he felt. His voice sounded strange to him, as if it were coming from the bottom of a tunnel. "Don't lead Maddie into anything too dangerous while I'm gone. You need to make sure she's safe."

"What?" He risked looking up and saw the worry on Maddie's face had been transformed to subdued annoyance. "I can take care of myself."

Of course she could, and better than Jack, probably. He knew that. If anything, it would be more sensible to be asking _her_ to take care of Jack. But still...

Jack looked as if he understood, though, and Vlad almost hated him for that too. "We'll both be here when you get back. I promise."

 

* * *

 

He hadn't really planned anything out. It had been years since Danny had _wanted_ to get attention in the ghost form, at least in the human world. Keeping things quiet was much easier on his nerves.

Appearing out of nowhere on a crowded sidewalk was a start. People sometimes managed to miss the subtle glow of his ghost form in daylight, but nobody'd miss that kind of entrance. Someone had screamed, a woman a few feet away fell onto her rear, but there didn't seem to be real distress. Just surprise. Well, Madison's ghost problem had been getting worse for months, by now even the greatest skeptic had to be starting to expect the unexpected.

"Hello!" Danny had gotten very good at projecting his voice, a nice theatrical touch that added to his presence when he had to give a presentation or speech in his human form. "Hello, everyone. I am a ghost!"

The small crowd around him seemed to be recovering from their surprise, although there was a mix of fear and doubt in their expressions. Nobody was really running yet. The woman who'd fallen over was starting to scoot back away from him, not getting up.

"I am a ghost, and I am here... to steal this car." He walked to a brown car parallel parked close by, and lifted it by the metal frame with both hands. _Now_ there was some real belief, and screaming, and scrambling for escape. Even if he were lying about being a ghost, someone who could casually pick up a car was no one you wanted to cross.

He had cars of his own, of course. Shortly after he'd really started to build his fortune, he'd gone through a spending spree, purchasing a variety of high-cost, high-profile items including more than a few luxury vehicles. Sam would never have approved, and he wasn't sure if he bought them in spite or because of that. Either way, after a while, the thrill of spending had died down and the cars themselves lost their appeal. When his casual flying speed was over twice the average highway speed limit, he didn't get much adrenaline rush from driving even the most posh or speediest vehicle. It felt like a waste of time to even bother with them.

The car in his hands, when he looked up at it more closely, was obviously well-used and perhaps waiting for a last breakdown to convince the owner to trade in for something new. Somewhere distant, he heard a man shout in dismay, "My _car_!" Well, he'd try not to drop it, anyhow.

"And, being a ghost, I certainly do hope no ghost hunters show up, and stop me from taking this car." He stepped back onto the sidewalk, still holding the car over his head, and glanced around expectantly. "I'll wait."


	10. Vlad and Friendship

After the awkwardly intense early moments of their talk, things had evened out a bit, grown more casual. Maddie still seemed a little put out at Vlad's request, but didn't push the point, maybe aware that their remaining time was slipping away. Vlad was brought up to date on events in school, and on exactly what sort of ghosts had shown up so far in his absence. It seemed that they really had only been taking care of the simpler animal ghosts that sometimes slipped out of the portal. He wondered why none of the more dangerous, self-aware ghosts had shown up. Maybe they didn't realize how unprotected Madison was.

The school's football team had won their last game, news that aroused a mixture of genuine pleasure from Vlad's enjoyment of the sport and ill-will regarding his distaste for most of the players. Before the accident, he'd tried out for the team, and washed out to such a degree that classmates still made jokes about it. Jack hadn't tried out, which was almost a pity, because Vlad was fairly sure he'd be able to flatten the entire team by himself if he wanted.

His missing schoolwork was not quite as bad as he might have expected, but it really hadn't been an entire week since he'd last been in class. Without ghost hunting on the side, he could finish it in a night or two. If he went back to ghost hunting when he returned... well, it would depend on what showed up. Maddie suggested that they pick up his books to let him start catching up while he was staying with Danny, but without the ability to float up to his bedroom or walk through walls, he didn't want to risk going to his house.

Neither of them mentioned their romantic relationship.

The distant sound of sirens was Vlad's first clue that Danny's distraction was on, although he didn't realize it at first. Madison was a busy enough city, it could have been an ambulance or fire truck rushing to the scene of a crash or some medical emergency. The sound of people screaming "ghost" was the real give-away, and Jack was on his feet almost before the first cry ended.

"Vlad, you don't have your powers. You should stay here, without any equipment." Maddie's tone had gone all business again. She was very serious, in her own way, about the ghost hunting. It went beyond a sense of public duty or a hobby for her, even before when she'd mostly been his sidekick. She seemed to think of it as her calling in life. Maybe it was.

"Wait!" Vlad stood up too, staring across the street to try and see what was going on. People were fleeing, all right, but he couldn't see what they were fleeing from. There were no sounds of destruction nearby, and a few police cars were trying to make it past the crowds to head across a nearby intersection, as if police would be of any use at all. If the Guys in White really cared about public safety, they'd have given the police some kind of ghost fighting equipment already, instead of letting them rush in with useless tazers, guns or trained dogs. The public story was still that the ghosts were only an urban legend, no matter how much damage they did or how many people witnessed their attacks. The will to be deliberately ignorant was more powerful than Vlad might have imagined before his accident. "Wait, that could be—"

"It's about two blocks up Sherman Avenue, something big." Maddie was looking at a small ghost 'radar' they had stolen from the Guys in White several weeks back. The thing wasn't terribly useful, in Vlad's opinion—it only seemed able to pick up ghosts that were already flying around being obvious and ghostly. But at least it gave some direction. "Jack, it's _really_ big."

"Then it's a good thing I have a big gun!" Really, where _did_ he carry those things? Maybe when you were large enough, you had more ability to hide suspicious weapons-lumps. Jack had pulled out something nearly bazooka-like in size, and looked very happy to have it.

"I said wait!" Vlad grabbed at Maddie's wrist, looking at the radar himself. The light on it was blinking brightly, quickly, a sign of something very powerful detected. More powerful than anything he'd seen it detect so far. "I think it's Danny. He said he was going to cause a distraction."

"It looks like he's trying to cause a _riot_." Maddie looked at the watch-like device again, this time with more calculation in her gaze. "Vlad... how strong did you say he was?"

"Strong." Vlad watched the people scattering, the scene now quieter despite the sirens that were still wailing. A white van had pulled up more subtly across the road, and two men in white coats stepped out.

"We can't just let him mess up the town, even if he did save you." Jack was obviously torn between his loyalty to Vlad and his desire to take on any ghost that seemed like a threat. "What's he doing?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me what he was going to do." Vlad had gone back to staring at the streetcorner that seemed to be closest, even though he couldn't exactly see through the buildings to what was happening. "Put the gun away and follow me."

"But it's a really good gun!" Jack sulked a little.

"Jack, I think we should go check things out before we rush in." Maddie, fortunately, had some common sense. She also looked a bit afraid, something Vlad could understand. _He_ was afraid of that man, too, even if he didn't like admitting it.

They'd managed to get to the edge of the street without attracting too much attention. Most of the people who'd been running in the first place were gone, but there were others who were trying to get a peek at whatever disaster had started, and they didn't stick out too much compared to the rest of the crowd now that Jack had put his toy away. Danny was hovering in the street, over a car, and casually stopping bullets in mid-air with another of his heavy green shields. Vlad wondered if he was worried about ricochet shots if he went intangible, or if he was just showing off.

"He looks like a human." Maddie's voice was soft, barely audible over the sound of sirens and other people in the crowd muttering to each other. "Is that him?"

"Oh, yes." Danny had started cackling, which sounded more goofy than threatening. "That's definitely him."

"And we can't shoot him?" Jack still looked put out.

"He doesn't seem to be hurting anything." Vlad began to back away from the scene. If it was really a distraction on _his_ account, sticking around might be inviting trouble. "Come on. Let the Guys in White deal with him. They probably can't stop him, either."

Maddie and Jack both seemed surprised at Vlad's reaction, but listened to him, and withdrew back through the other onlookers toward the edge of the park again.

"When he told me he was going to make a distraction, I thought he meant something small," Vlad confessed, feeling a bit embarrassed by proxy. "Not showing off in the middle of town."

"Do the Guys in White know who he really is? Do you think _he_ might be in danger?" As nice as Maddie could be, she didn't seem deeply concerned. It was closer to curiosity than her worry when they'd talked about Vlad.

"I doubt it. He's ridiculously... well." Praising Danny wasn't what Vlad had come here to do. He wasn't entirely sure it was praise, anyway. He thought Danny's strength was like his own, the result of an accident more than his own virtue.

"It's wrong to let ghosts think they can just come along and rampage whenever they want. It's bad precedent." Jack was pouting a bit. It almost seemed like a pity that he couldn't tell Jack to just go ahead and attack Danny. Somehow he suspected that Danny wouldn't appreciate killing his friend for him. He wasn't sure he'd enjoy it either. Opportunities like that didn't always offer themselves, though.

"Well, he can't be planning on staying there forever. He has to take Vlad home."

Vlad wondered how she'd come to the conclusion that where Danny would take him was now 'home.'

"I guess so." Jack didn't look completely convinced yet.

"I wonder how he's expecting to get away." It would keep the attention of the Guys in White, Vlad could admit that, but there had to be a better way to go about it. "It can't be a half-hour before we're supposed to leave."

"It's too bad you can't stay longer. We could go get lunch together." Having been denied ghost fighting, Jack naturally defaulted back to thinking about food. "Is he feeding you okay?"

"He's not starving me, if that's what you mean." That had come before. He wondered if Jack had ever gone a day without water. People didn't appreciate water enough. "Assuming he doesn't decide to out-and-out murder me, I expect to survive."

"What does that mean?" Maddie was frowning a bit. "Do you think he might?"

If he told them that Danny had interlaced his friendly comments with a few death threats, they might decide to go out there and shoot at him anyway. The thought was more reassuring than it should have been. "No. Not really. He's just strange."

"We'll take care of him, if he gives you trouble. You just have to ask!" Jack offered. There was no chance that he'd be able to do something about Danny, should Danny become a problem. No chance at all.

"Thanks... Jack. Maddie." He smiled at them anyway.

 

* * *

 

As it turned out, Danny's escape plan was every bit as simple as his distraction plan. Vlad first realized what form it would take when Maddie glanced at her little wrist detector and her eyebrows shot up. It was just enough time for Vlad to wince, before an invisible force lifted him right off the ground mid-sentence, and turned him invisible too.

"Bye!" Danny's tone was downright jovial, but he didn't pause for response before taking off. The last Vlad saw of Jack or Maddie was a mixture of confusion and consternation. At least they seemed to understand what had happened, and weren't giving chase.

"What kind of distraction was that?!" Vlad felt free to offer critique as they headed up, knowing before long they'd be moving too fast to talk. "The whole city's going to see you, when the footage gets out!"

"It'll be fine." He sounded mostly amused still. "That's what those Guys are for. They'll contain it as well as they've contained any other story of ghost attack."

"How reassuring." Vlad rolled his eyes. It wasn't as if Danny could see it. "You do realize most of Madison has already started to accept the existence of ghosts despite the Guys in White, right?"

"Yeah, but that's not really my fault. I'm just another obnoxious, crazy spook passing through. As long as they keep it from turning into too much of a panic, I'm not responsible for keeping people from knowing ghosts exist."

Vlad managed to resist the urge to agree with Danny's self-description. The wind was getting too loud to really hear each other well, anyway. As every other time Danny had flown him someplace, they seemed to reach much greater speed than Vlad could manage. He tried to pay attention to where they were going, to get a better idea of where Danny's cabin was, but the clouds beneath and the lack of any points of reference meant he didn't get any clearer impressions than 'south' and 'far.'

The sun was already setting by the time they reached the cabin again. Danny set Vlad on his feet before reaching into the door to release the lock.

"Why can't we just go through the walls?" The windows and walls all seemed normal enough, especially compared to the glowing barriers he'd seen both downstairs and at the GiW compound. "Why bother with a door at all?"

"Good question!" Danny still seemed to be cheered by their visit to Madison, more so than Vlad actually was. "Normal people might pass by my ordinary little cabin, and no door is a little hard to explain. Besides, it makes it easier to remember where I put the controls. This is a passive sensor, but I turn it on when I leave so anything going through the walls will set off a trap. It's an extra safety, just in case someone _does_ get through the portal when I'm not here."

Danny had withdrawn his hand, and opened the door, gesturing a bit dramatically for Vlad to go first. He walked up to the door frame, then hesitated.

"What would happen to me if I went through the walls while that was on?"

"You? I dunno." Danny gave Vlad a measuring look. "Probably knock you out, short the ghost powers... might kill you. Relax, I haven't been keeping that on while you're here."

'Relaxed' didn't really describe Vlad's feelings after hearing that the house doubled as a ghost trap which only Danny could turn off, but he stepped inside anyway, and sat down on the couch while Danny closed and locked the door behind them.

"How'd your visit go?" Danny sat down next to him, putting his white boots up on the coffee table. He still hadn't returned to his human form.

"All right." Confusing. Vlad wasn't sure now what he'd expected. Somewhere, he'd known all along that Jack didn't intend him harm, that Maddie cared about him in some friendly and utterly unromantic way. It had been easier to decide how to feel about that when he was away from them. "Isn't being so obvious going to get you in any trouble?"

"Why would it?" Leaning back, Danny closed his eyes for a moment, smiling up at the ceiling. "What does it show them? Some strong ghost showed up at one of their headquarters and busted you out. Later, the same ghost showed up nearby in town, without you. All that tells them is that I still exist, and they already knew that. It doesn't even prove we're still hanging around each other. For all they know, I broke you out and then ate you."

" _Ate_ me?" Vlad wrinkled his nose. "Do ghosts eat each other?"

"Of course they do." Danny sat up again, looking at Vlad while he explained. "It's not exactly like the human world's food chain, but most ghosts have to eat something. They don't always distinguish between ghosts who can think and those who can't, either."

"So a ghost might eat me someday." He sighed. After meeting with the Ghost Writer and spending time around Danny, the idea of being eaten by a ghost was barely alarming.

"Sure, but it's not really as bad as it sounds. Most of them don't digest the way animals in this world do." Danny shrugged slightly. "So getting out again isn't as hard as you'd think, as long as they don't get teeth into you."

Vlad stared at him for a moment, not sure he wanted to ask. "Have you been eaten by a ghost?"

"Just a couple times. I came out of it okay," Danny added, as if it weren't obvious.

"That sounds... disturbing." Vlad shook his head. "And gross."

"You know, I felt the same way about it the first time! But after I figured it makes a pretty good anecdote," Danny answered brightly. "Always thought it was too bad I didn't have anybody to tell it to. Ghosts'd take it for granted, and humans wouldn't know what I was talking about."

The sudden confession of isolation, buried in the cheery comment, was unsettling. Vlad stood up and stretched, trying to pretend he hadn't heard it. With a thought, the familiar black rings passed over his body, returning him to the form of Plasmius. It was comforting, despite knowing that he was outclassed by Danny even in this form.

"I'll be here tomorrow, but I need to go back to work Monday." Danny didn't comment on the change. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"What do I want to do?" Vlad repeated, confused.

"Is there an echo in here? Yeah. See more of the Ghost Zone? That tour of the lab I promised? If you just want to sit around and watch TV after today's trip, I don't mind, but you're gonna get pretty bored while you're stuck here alone."

Danny seemed to be in a sharing mood. Vlad supposed he should take advantage of it, but going back to the Ghost Zone after being told he might be eaten there didn't really appeal. "Aren't you worried that I might break into things you don't want me around if you let me downstairs?"

"Well, you hadn't tried it yet. And now you know better than to try. Right?" Danny's voice was not quite as light as before, almost pushy. Vlad nodded a bit more emphatically than he might have liked. "Great. Then I can show you around the parts you're welcome to mess with. Maybe it'll give you something to do if you get bored with the TV. Just try not to shoot yourself or blow the place up while I'm not here."

"So it's all right if I blow it up while you _are_ here?" Vlad asked dryly. Danny laughed.

"Just warn me first."


	11. Vlad and Learning

The introduction to the lab the next morning hadn't started out too promising, as Danny dramatically picked up a small blaster and told Vlad it was a gun, for shooting ghosts. Vlad was fairly certain he was being obnoxious on purpose, since he knew very well that Vlad and his friends had been using the GiW's tools for months. After a bit more horsing around, more for Danny's entertainment than Vlad's, they'd gotten down to business, which was good, because Vlad had been starting to wonder if he shouldn't have tried to run yesterday after all just to escape Danny's weird sense of humor. Most of it he could either recognize or relate to something he already knew, either from the stolen equipment or what he'd seen of his father's work. Danny did express some limited concern that Vlad might cut off an extremity working alone, but just as quickly seemed to decide it wasn't a problem at all, without Vlad helping convince him.

Vlad wasn't sure what he could use the tools for, even after being introduced to them properly and shown how a few of them worked. Danny's own inventions seemed too complex, still steps ahead of the government, and the ones left incomplete mostly baffled Vlad even after Danny explained a bit. It didn't help that Danny wasn't exerting himself to describe everything in a clear, straight-forward manner. He was a little surprised at how much Danny seemed the cliché eccentric genius in this environment, obviously brilliant but terrible at explaining to someone else what exactly it was he thought he was doing. The completed items were mostly self-explanatory in purpose if not in design, but plenty of those were puzzling when Vlad really gave them thought. Others became clear when he stopped thinking of everything in the room that wasn't an obvious engineering tool as a weapon. A vacuum cleaner that sucked up ectoplasmic residue might not be standard equipment for the GiW, but it probably kept Danny's basement clean.

It wasn't until they paused for lunch that Vlad realized this would be his first full day spent with the strange older half-ghost.

* * *

Monday morning, Danny was gone before Vlad even woke up. He was surprised, somehow. Between the lack of timepieces and Danny's generally lackadaisical attitude, it was hard to picture him rushing to some meeting or conference bright and early. Then again, he'd have to fly there first, and as fast as he was, it was probably still quite a commute.

After cleaning up from breakfast, Vlad decided someone might as well watch the television that Danny had bothered bringing out there. The reception was surprisingly good, but Vlad had never watched much TV at home, and the fact that he had few other choices for burning off mental energy somehow made the shows seem even duller.

Turning it off, Vlad next tried reading through more of Danny's books. The empty house didn't have many distractions to bother him while he read, at least. Most of the books were filled with page after page marked with notes like 'probably not' or 'nope,' very few with enlightening notes on ghosts or artifacts that Danny had actually encountered, but even the negative notes gave some new information, just by stating what wasn't true. The different books had a variety of tones, some serious and almost painfully earnest, others flippant and casual, but there was no real connection between the tone and the reality of the content so far as Vlad could tell. For every few false ghost stories, there was a true one.

Some of them, to his surprise, described ghosts Vlad had met in his ghost hunting. A few were animals, with no more note than the easiest way to get rid of them or send them home, but most were the sentient ghosts who tended to cause a much bigger problem when they showed up. Skulker was there, although his armor seemed to be drawn a bit more dramatically and classically in the book that mentioned him; the description of the flaming hair and hunting were the main proofs that the book was talking about the same ghost. Beside him was an honestly terrible hand drawing of Skulker's real body, onto which Danny had at some point added a goofy mustache. Technus was in another book, drawn somewhat more true to life than Skulker's picture, with a lurid description of lab accidents and crazed science and so forth, but little record of a tendency to declare his name and intentions bombastically and no mention of his odd ability to merge and control technology. The side notes filled that in again, along with a few theories about the lightning rod that Technus used when he didn't control others' technology.

That ate up a few hours, but after enough time peering through them, he realized he was starting to run out. There had to be more, Vlad thought. Surely Danny had made personal notes on his own discoveries in the Ghost Zone, but maybe they had some details he didn't want to share with Vlad. He obviously liked keeping secrets.

By mid-afternoon, he found himself very impatient for Danny's return. It wasn't that he liked Danny _that_ much, but even his company beat complete solitude and boredom. After wandering the inside perimeter of the house and even glancing around the basement downstairs, he wound up on the couch again. The device Danny had used to mute Vlad's ghost powers was still sitting on the coffee table, left there like a very odd conversation piece. He hadn't gotten a very good look at it when Danny was putting it together.

Darkness had fallen outside before Danny showed up again, with a few more bags of groceries. Vlad had almost finished taking the device entirely apart, but put it back on the coffee table to help with the groceries, or more accurately, put them away while Danny went to change out of his suit.

When Vlad left the kitchen, Danny was sitting on the couch in jeans and a t-shirt, looking over his mostly-disassembled invention.

"So, you just get in the mood to start breaking things while I was gone?" He didn't sound too upset about the idea.

"No." Feeling a little defensive, Vlad picked the parts of the device up again. "I was just taking it apart. _Carefully_ taking it apart. So I could see how it works."

"Yeah?" Danny raised his eyebrows. "So, how does it work?"

"I don't know yet!" Irritated, Vlad sat down as far from Danny on the couch as he could manage. "I'm still looking at it."

"Well, good luck." Leaning back a little, Danny watched Vlad start to fiddle with the device again. Vlad found his hands clumsier when Danny was watching, as he grew more self-conscious. "Are you going to try to put it back together when you're done?"

"Yes!" Still feeling awkward, Vlad finally bundled it all together to take into his own room. "And I _will_. Stop gawking at me."

"I'm not gawking." Danny smiled. "I bet you will put it back together right. You're really smart for your age."

"What do you mean, _for my age_?" The compliment was completely overshadowed with that little qualification. Vlad scowled back at him.

"I just mean, when I was your age, I wasn't that good." Danny seemed to take Vlad's anger in stride, shrugging. "It wasn't until I got to college and I could decide for myself what to study that I started to realize I was pretty good at figuring out how to put things together. Didn't hurt that my first roommate was a complete techno-geek."

Still holding the disassembled parts in his hands, Vlad hesitated before asking, "What made you decide to build a ghost portal in the first place, anyway?"

"Oh... always was kind of interested in the paranormal. Stuff people wouldn't believe was true, I wanted to think it might be. And then I met my first ghost." Danny's gaze wandered, his expression loosening a bit as he got caught up in reminiscing. "It was a little girl. She wasn't scary, or anything. Just seemed kind of lost. And I started thinking, maybe she was lost because she wasn't meant to be here. Maybe there was someplace else where she'd belong."

Vlad wasn't sure what to make of the story. A little surprised at himself, he told Danny, "I believed in ghosts after my mother died. Or perhaps I wanted to believe, especially after the stories about the Ghost Portal. When my dad was hired for the government's ghost project, I was pleased, because that meant it _had_ to be real. That the first portal wasn't a hoax."

A pained look crossed Danny's face for a moment, and he paused as if choosing his words carefully before answering. "You need to understand that dead people don't become ghosts."

"What?" Vlad frowned. "That can't be right. I've met ghosts who talked about their past lives."

"Sure. They think they're the person they were created from." Danny paused again, then took a deep breath. "Part of that person might be there. An impulse, a dying wish, or a memory that always haunted them in life. It gets imprinted on a bit of stray ectoplasmic energy in the Ghost Zone, gains shape. The new ghost'll remember whatever it got from the human it was born from, but it won't be that person anymore. Not really. That's part of why so many of the ghosts are fixated. They're built around just one or two ideas, not like a whole human. You might meet a ghost who looks like someone you once knew, who has some of the same memories. But if you talk to them, they won't look at things the same way. They won't have the same depth as a living person. Really developed ghosts can start moving on past the obsession they were born from, but they'll be moving on to a more full life as a ghost. Not a return to a human life. What happens to people after they die, I don't know. But the ghost that comes from them isn't them."

There was something unpleasant about the way Danny explained it. It lacked some of the calm distance he had when talking about other ghostly issues, like the power of the Ghost Writer, or being swallowed by a ghost. It sounded personal.

"Did you meet the ghost of someone you knew?" The question was invasive, and Vlad almost regretted asking it, but Danny nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry. You can't meet your mom again, even in the Ghost Zone."

"Oh." Vlad glanced away. "To be honest, I hadn't thought about it in years. It was just how the interest in ghosts got started. That's all."

He could tell from the look Danny gave him that he didn't believe that for a moment. Embarrassed, Vlad walked over to the door to his bedroom, avoiding looking in Danny's eyes.

"I'm going to work on this some more."

"Okay." At least Danny let it go at that, and yawned loudly. "I might take a nap before dinner. Got up early this morning."

Vlad fled into his room.


End file.
